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

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two investment 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 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $60.63.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on HWC shares. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $68.00 price target on shares of Hancock Whitney in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Raymond James raised shares of Hancock Whitney from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th.

Insider Activity at Hancock Whitney

In related news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 763 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.40, for a total value of $39,981.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,518 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,343.20. The trade was a 3.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO John M. Hairston sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total value of $1,069,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 254,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,099,305.44. This trade represents a 6.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,563 shares of company stock valued at $1,150,661. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hancock Whitney

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Client 1ST Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter valued at about $272,000. Grove Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Hancock Whitney during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 72,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,978,000 after buying an additional 7,725 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Hancock Whitney in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division increased its position in Hancock Whitney by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 17,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $972,000 after buying an additional 1,334 shares during the period. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HWC opened at $58.46 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.11 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $57.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.33. Hancock Whitney has a 52-week low of $41.19 and a 52-week 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 data on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $525.37 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.54 million. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.47% and a net margin of 19.30%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.12 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney will post 5.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.74%. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is 35.87%.

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.