American Century Companies Inc. Boosts Stake in Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) by 20.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,401,113 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 237,526 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 1.62% of Hancock Whitney worth $67,015,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of HWC. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter valued at $386,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 35.2% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney during the 4th quarter valued at about $46,846,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Hancock Whitney by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $765,000 after buying an additional 2,293 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter worth approximately $357,000. Institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Hovde Group boosted their target price on Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.78.

Hancock Whitney Trading Up 2.4 %

NASDAQ HWC opened at $49.80 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $4.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.61 and a beta of 1.26. Hancock Whitney Co. has a fifty-two week low of $32.16 and a fifty-two week high of $57.78. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.11. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 18.63% and a return on equity of 11.51%. The business had revenue of $359.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $359.11 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney Co. will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 5th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 5th. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is currently 37.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hancock Whitney news, Director Frank E. Bertucci sold 2,053 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total transaction of $117,082.59. Following the transaction, the director now owns 22,554 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,286,254.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.