Short Interest in Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Rises By 7.6%

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,680,000 shares, a growth of 7.6% from the October 15th total of 2,490,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 517,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.2 days. Approximately 3.2% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Activity at Hancock Whitney

In other Hancock Whitney news, Director Carleton Richard Wilkins sold 800 shares of Hancock Whitney stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.95, for a total transaction of $40,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $810,105. The trade was a 4.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael M. Achary sold 8,431 shares of Hancock Whitney stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.55, for a total value of $443,049.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 54,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,857,669. The trade was a 13.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 27,994 shares of company stock worth $1,593,710. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney in the second quarter valued at about $37,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the second quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 268.9% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 985 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 718 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts 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 note on Friday, September 20th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Hancock Whitney has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.89.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

HWC traded down $0.98 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $57.47. 704,628 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 509,543. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.11 and a beta of 1.25. Hancock Whitney has a 1-year low of $39.38 and a 1-year high of $61.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.02. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.47% and a net margin of 19.30%. The firm had revenue of $525.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.54 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Hancock Whitney will post 5.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.