nVerses Capital LLC Acquires New Position in Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC)

nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney in the first quarter worth about $1,159,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Hancock Whitney by 96.6% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 51,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,365,000 after purchasing an additional 25,241 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,226,780 shares of the company’s stock valued at $424,801,000 after buying an additional 34,152 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 35.4% during the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 102,103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,884,000 after buying an additional 26,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 22.1% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 59,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,746,000 after buying an additional 10,810 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Frank E. Bertucci sold 2,053 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total value of $117,082.59. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 22,554 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,286,254.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on HWC shares. Hovde Group raised their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Hancock Whitney from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.89.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

NASDAQ HWC opened at $50.96 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $51.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.72. Hancock Whitney Co. has a fifty-two week low of $32.16 and a fifty-two week high of $57.78. The company has a market cap of $4.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.88 and a beta of 1.26. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $525.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $363.54 million. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 18.63% and a return on equity of 11.51%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.12 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Hancock Whitney Co. will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 5th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 5th. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.30%.

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.