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

Shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $56.67.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on HWC shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Hancock Whitney from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Hancock Whitney from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Hovde Group increased their price target on Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th.

Hancock Whitney Price Performance

Hancock Whitney stock opened at $50.12 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. Hancock Whitney has a 52 week low of $32.16 and a 52 week high of $57.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.68 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $50.59 and a 200-day moving average of $48.19.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.11. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.51% and a net margin of 18.63%. The company had revenue of $359.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $359.11 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.35 EPS. Hancock Whitney’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Hancock Whitney will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 5th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is 37.30%.

Insider Activity at Hancock Whitney

In related news, Director Frank E. Bertucci sold 2,053 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total transaction of $117,082.59. Following the sale, the director now owns 22,554 shares in the company, valued at $1,286,254.62. This 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. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HWC. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 710,251 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,511,000 after acquiring an additional 25,215 shares in the last quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter worth approximately $210,000. Spouting Rock Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Spouting Rock Asset Management LLC now owns 24,444 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,188,000 after acquiring an additional 3,346 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,192,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $446,670,000 after acquiring an additional 95,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BTC Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney in the first quarter valued at approximately $349,000. 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.