Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nine research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $56.89.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports 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 report on Friday, September 20th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th.

Hancock Whitney Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:HWC opened at $59.94 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.82. Hancock Whitney has a 52-week low of $39.38 and a 52-week high of $62.40. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.76. The firm has a market cap of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.44 and a beta of 1.25.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last issued its 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 company 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 period last year, the business earned $1.12 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney will post 5.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.87%.

Insider Transactions at Hancock Whitney

In related news, Director Carleton Richard Wilkins sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.95, for a total value of $40,760.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $810,105. The trade was a 4.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John M. Hairston sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total transaction of $1,069,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 254,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,099,305.44. The trade was a 6.62 % decrease in their position. 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 90 days. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hancock Whitney

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 20,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,030,000 after acquiring an additional 2,741 shares during the last quarter. Second Line Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Hancock Whitney during the third quarter valued at 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 purchasing an additional 691 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,149,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,016,000 after purchasing an additional 30,239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 149.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 321,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,435,000 after purchasing an additional 192,295 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

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.