Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities 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. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $58.00.

Several analysts have recently commented on HWC shares. Truist Financial reduced 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 report on Friday, September 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target 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. Raymond James upgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. DA Davidson raised their target price on Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Stephens raised Hancock Whitney from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,900 shares in the company, valued at $810,105. This trade represents a 4.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 763 shares of Hancock Whitney stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.40, for a total transaction of $39,981.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,232,343.20. The trade was a 3.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 27,994 shares of company stock valued at $1,593,710. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hancock Whitney

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HWC. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 15.8% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 20,131 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,030,000 after acquiring an additional 2,741 shares during the period. Second Line Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Hancock Whitney in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $426,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 30.7% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 2,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $150,000 after purchasing an additional 691 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 149.2% in 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 during the period. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hancock Whitney Trading Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ HWC opened at $54.38 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $56.38 and its 200 day moving average is $52.07. The company has a market cap of $4.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.19 and a beta of 1.27. Hancock Whitney has a twelve month low of $41.19 and a twelve month high of $62.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $525.37 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.54 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.12 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Hancock Whitney will post 5.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.87%.

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.