Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Shares Bought by William Blair Investment Management LLC

William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 594,814 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 14,545 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.69% of Hancock Whitney worth $32,548,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter worth about $444,000. Ironwood Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter worth about $212,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 169,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,291,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 23,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,276,000 after buying an additional 4,299 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 67.4% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 55,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,033,000 after buying an additional 22,316 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Hancock Whitney Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Hancock Whitney stock opened at $51.58 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a PE ratio of 9.77 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50-day moving average of $57.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.29. Hancock Whitney Co. has a 12-month low of $41.56 and a 12-month high of $62.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last announced 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 period last year, the firm posted $1.26 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a positive change from Hancock Whitney’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.49%. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is presently 34.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.