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

Shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nine research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $58.00.

HWC has been the topic of several analyst reports. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens upgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 20th.

Insider Activity at Hancock Whitney

In other Hancock Whitney news, Director Carleton Richard Wilkins sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.95, for a total transaction of $40,760.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,900 shares in the company, valued at $810,105. This represents a 4.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael M. Achary sold 8,431 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.55, for a total transaction of $443,049.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 54,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,857,669. This represents a 13.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 27,994 shares of company stock worth $1,593,710. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hancock Whitney

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 707.2% in the 2nd 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 lifted its position in Hancock Whitney by 213.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 735,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,663,000 after acquiring an additional 501,259 shares during the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp boosted its stake in Hancock Whitney by 30.9% in the second quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 1,069,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,141,000 after acquiring an additional 252,473 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 20.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,401,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,015,000 after purchasing an additional 237,526 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

Hancock Whitney stock opened at $54.85 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $56.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a PE ratio of 12.30 and a beta of 1.27. Hancock Whitney has a twelve month low of $41.19 and a twelve month high of $62.40.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $525.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $363.54 million. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.47% and a net margin of 19.30%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney will post 5.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.87%.

Hancock Whitney Company 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.