Brokerages Set Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Price Target at $58.00

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $58.00.

Several research firms have weighed in on HWC. Raymond James upgraded Hancock Whitney from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens raised shares of Hancock Whitney from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

Shares of Hancock Whitney stock opened at $54.85 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.30 and a beta of 1.27. 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. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $56.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.45.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $525.37 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $363.54 million. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 19.30% and a return on equity of 11.47%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.12 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Hancock Whitney will post 5.19 EPS for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.92%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.87%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 763 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 23,518 shares in the company, valued at $1,232,343.20. This represents a 3.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO John M. Hairston sold 18,000 shares of Hancock Whitney stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total value of $1,069,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 254,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Insiders have sold 27,994 shares of company stock worth $1,593,710 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hancock Whitney

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Hancock Whitney by 21.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 551,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,227,000 after purchasing an additional 96,092 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised 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 buying an additional 2,741 shares during the last quarter. Second Line Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney in the third quarter worth about $426,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in Hancock Whitney by 30.7% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 2,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,000 after acquiring an additional 691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

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.