Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nine brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $56.67.

HWC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Frank E. Bertucci sold 2,053 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total value of $117,082.59. Following the sale, the director now owns 22,554 shares in the company, valued at $1,286,254.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hancock Whitney

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HWC. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 707.2% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 576,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,563,000 after buying an additional 504,873 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 213.7% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 735,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,663,000 after purchasing an additional 501,259 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp raised its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 30.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 1,069,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,141,000 after buying an additional 252,473 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Hancock Whitney by 20.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,401,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,015,000 after acquiring an additional 237,526 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 3.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,980,204 shares of the company’s stock valued at $238,197,000 after acquiring an additional 167,304 shares in the last quarter. 81.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

Shares of Hancock Whitney stock opened at $52.50 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.53 billion, a PE ratio of 12.35 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.39. Hancock Whitney has a one year low of $32.16 and a one year high of $57.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $359.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $359.11 million. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 18.63% and a return on equity of 11.51%. Hancock Whitney’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.35 EPS. Research analysts expect that Hancock Whitney will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 5th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.05%. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

About Hancock Whitney

Hancock Whitney Corporation operates as the financial holding company for Hancock Whitney Bank that provides traditional and online banking services to commercial, small business, and retail customers. It offers various transaction and savings deposit products consisting of brokered deposits, time deposits, and money market accounts; treasury management services, secured and unsecured loan products including revolving credit facilities, and letters of credit and similar financial guarantees; and trust and investment management services to retirement plans, corporations, and individuals, and investment advisory and brokerage products.