Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Acquires 35,586 Shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 727,973 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,586 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC owned 0.85% of Hancock Whitney worth $39,835,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 63,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,687,000 after buying an additional 4,219 shares in the last quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP now owns 10,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $582,000 after acquiring an additional 1,179 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Hancock Whitney by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,097,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $552,539,000 after acquiring an additional 181,706 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter worth $930,000. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter worth $449,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Hancock Whitney from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $72.00 price target (up previously from $64.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up previously from $68.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.56.

Hancock Whitney Trading Up 3.7 %

NASDAQ HWC opened at $54.26 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.28 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.30. Hancock Whitney Co. has a 12 month low of $41.56 and a 12 month high of $62.40.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.12. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 22.40% and a return on equity of 11.56%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.26 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Hancock Whitney Co. will post 5.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This is a positive change from Hancock Whitney’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.09%.

Hancock Whitney Profile

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.