Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Reaches New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) shares hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $61.88 and last traded at $61.64, with a volume of 2223 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $59.97.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 20th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hancock Whitney has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.89.

Hancock Whitney Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $5.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.45 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.52.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $525.37 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.54 million. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 19.30% and a return on equity of 11.47%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.12 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Hancock Whitney Co. will post 5.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.87%.

Insider Activity

In other Hancock Whitney news, Director Carleton Richard Wilkins sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.95, for a total value of $40,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $810,105. This represents a 4.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO John M. Hairston sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total transaction of $1,069,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 254,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,099,305.44. This trade represents a 6.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,994 shares of company stock valued at $1,593,710 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of HWC. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 15.8% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 20,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 2,741 shares in the last quarter. Second Line Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the third quarter worth about $426,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 30.7% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 2,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,000 after purchasing an additional 691 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,149,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,016,000 after purchasing an additional 30,239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 149.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 321,196 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,435,000 after purchasing an additional 192,295 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

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.