Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) CEO John M. Hairston Sells 18,000 Shares

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) CEO John M. Hairston sold 18,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 254,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,099,305.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Hancock Whitney Price Performance

NASDAQ HWC opened at $58.63 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $5.06 billion, a PE ratio of 13.15 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $51.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Hancock Whitney Co. has a 52-week low of $36.70 and a 52-week high of $61.01.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $525.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 last year, the firm earned $1.12 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney Co. will post 5.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.87%.

Institutional Trading of Hancock Whitney

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HWC. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Hancock Whitney by 96.6% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 51,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,365,000 after acquiring an additional 25,241 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 280.5% during the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 16,827 shares of the company’s stock worth $775,000 after purchasing an additional 12,405 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 75,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,471,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney in the 1st quarter worth $1,159,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Hancock Whitney by 101.9% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $474,000 after buying an additional 5,197 shares during the last quarter. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HWC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 20th. Hovde Group boosted their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of 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 boosted their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Hancock Whitney currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.89.

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.