Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Short Interest Update

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,370,000 shares, an increase of 7.2% from the November 30th total of 2,210,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 521,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.5 days. Currently, 2.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stephens upgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Raymond James raised Hancock Whitney from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hancock Whitney presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.00.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

Shares of HWC stock opened at $54.72 on Thursday. 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 has a 52 week low of $41.19 and a 52 week high of $62.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $56.71 and a 200-day moving average of $52.59. The company has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.27 and a beta of 1.27.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $525.37 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.54 million. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 19.30% and a return on equity of 11.47%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. On average, equities 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 dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hancock Whitney news, CEO John M. Hairston sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total transaction of $1,069,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 254,026 shares in the company, valued at $15,099,305.44. This represents a 6.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael M. Achary sold 8,431 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 54,380 shares in the company, valued at $2,857,669. This trade represents a 13.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 27,994 shares of company stock valued at $1,593,710. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hancock Whitney

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 707.2% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 576,264 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,563,000 after purchasing an additional 504,873 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 213.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 735,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,663,000 after buying an additional 501,259 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp grew its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 30.9% during the second quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 1,069,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,141,000 after buying an additional 252,473 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 20.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,401,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,015,000 after acquiring an additional 237,526 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.