JHere’s an old adage on Wall Street about insider buying: there are many possible reasons to sell a stock, but only one reason to buy. On April 26, Wintrust Financial Corp Director H. Patrick Hackett Jr. invested $456,150.00 in 5,000 shares of WTFC, at a cost per share of $91.23. Bargain hunters tend to pay close attention to insider buying like this, because the only reason an insider would take their hard-earned money and use it to buy stock in their company on the open market , is that he expects to make money. In Tuesday’s trading, bargain hunters could buy shares of Wintrust Financial Corp (Symbol: WTFC) and hit a cost base 13.6% cheaper than Hackett Jr., with shares changing hands as low as $78.81 per share. It should be noted that Hackett Jr. has earned $0.34/share in dividends since the time of their purchase, so they are currently down 13.2% from their purchase on a total return basis. Shares of Wintrust Financial Corp are currently trading up around 1.1% on the day. The chart below shows the one-year performance of WTFC shares, compared to its 200-day moving average:
Looking at the chart above, WTFC’s low point in its 52-week range is $65.66 per share, with $105.56 as its 52-week high – compare with a last trade of 79 $.78. For comparison, here is a chart showing the prices at which WTFC insider buys have been recorded over the past six months:
| Bought | Initiated | Title | Shares | Price/Share | Assess |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04/26/2022 | H. Patrick Hackett Jr. | Director | 5,000 | $91.23 | 456 $150.00 |
The current annualized dividend paid by Wintrust Financial Corp is $1.36/share, currently paid in quarterly installments, and its most recent ex-dividend date was 11/05/2022. Below is a table of long-term dividend history for the WTFC, which may be helpful in determining whether the most recent dividend with approx. The annualized return of 1.7% should be maintained.
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