Hancock Whitney’s (HWC) “Overweight” Rating Reaffirmed at Stephens

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Stephens in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $68.00 price objective on the stock. Stephens’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 23.03% from the stock’s previous close.

HWC has been the topic of several other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial cut 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. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.00.

Hancock Whitney Trading Up 2.3 %

NASDAQ:HWC opened at $55.27 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.62. Hancock Whitney has a 12-month low of $41.19 and a 12-month high of $62.40. The firm has a market cap of $4.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.39 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Insider Activity

In other Hancock Whitney news, Director Carleton Richard Wilkins sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.95, for a total value of $40,760.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $810,105. This trade represents a 4.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 763 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.40, for a total transaction of $39,981.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,232,343.20. This represents a 3.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,994 shares of company stock worth $1,593,710 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hancock Whitney

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HWC. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Hancock Whitney by 707.2% during 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 raised its stake 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 buying an additional 501,259 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp lifted its stake in Hancock Whitney by 30.9% during the second quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 1,069,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,141,000 after purchasing an additional 252,473 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 20.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,401,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,015,000 after buying an additional 237,526 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 149.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 321,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,435,000 after purchasing an additional 192,295 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

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.