Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Stock Holdings Cut by Great Lakes Advisors LLC

Great Lakes Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) by 29.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 264,006 shares of the company’s stock after selling 112,445 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC owned about 0.31% of Hancock Whitney worth $14,446,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Hancock Whitney by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,297,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $219,917,000 after purchasing an additional 73,316 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Hancock Whitney by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,149,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,016,000 after purchasing an additional 30,239 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,898,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,557,000 after acquiring an additional 12,172 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,228,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,235,000 after acquiring an additional 73,875 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 692,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,429,000 after acquiring an additional 55,869 shares during the last quarter. 81.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Hancock Whitney Price Performance

HWC opened at $50.36 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $57.38 and a 200-day moving average of $55.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.54 and a beta of 1.24. Hancock Whitney Co. has a 12-month low of $41.56 and a 12-month high of $62.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.12. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.56% and a net margin of 22.40%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.26 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney Co. will post 5.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a boost from Hancock Whitney’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.57%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.