Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Short Interest Down 5.1% in December

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,250,000 shares, a decrease of 5.1% from the December 15th total of 2,370,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 529,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.3 days. Approximately 2.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Transactions at Hancock Whitney

In other news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 763 shares of Hancock Whitney stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.40, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 3.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO John M. Hairston sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 254,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,099,305.44. The trade was a 6.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,297,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $219,917,000 after buying an additional 73,316 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 30,239 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Hancock Whitney by 4.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,154,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,093,000 after purchasing an additional 46,622 shares during the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp boosted its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 30.9% in the second quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 1,069,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,141,000 after purchasing an additional 252,473 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Hancock Whitney by 20.9% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 780,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,350,000 after purchasing an additional 135,076 shares during the last quarter. 81.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HWC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective 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. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $68.00 target price on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hancock Whitney has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.63.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

Hancock Whitney stock opened at $59.10 on Monday. Hancock Whitney has a 12-month low of $41.19 and a 12-month high of $62.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $5.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.25 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $57.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.49.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is currently 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.