Brokerages Set Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Price Target at $56.89

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine analysts that are presently covering the stock, 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 covered the stock in the last year is $56.89.

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. DA Davidson boosted 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. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Hovde Group boosted their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 20th.

Hancock Whitney Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of Hancock Whitney stock opened at $52.59 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $51.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $4.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.79 and a beta of 1.25. Hancock Whitney has a 1-year low of $36.70 and a 1-year high of $57.78.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last announced its 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. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.47% and a net margin of 19.30%. The firm had revenue of $525.37 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.54 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.12 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney will post 5.19 EPS for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.87%.

Insider Transactions at Hancock Whitney

In other news, Director Carleton Richard Wilkins sold 800 shares of Hancock Whitney stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.95, for a total transaction of $40,760.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $810,105. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Michael M. Achary sold 8,431 shares of Hancock Whitney stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.55, for a total transaction of $443,049.05. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 54,380 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,857,669. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Carleton Richard Wilkins sold 800 shares of Hancock Whitney stock in a transaction on 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 owns 15,900 shares in the company, valued at $810,105. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,994 shares of company stock valued at $523,790 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Hancock Whitney in the first quarter valued at about $1,159,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in Hancock Whitney by 96.6% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 51,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,365,000 after purchasing an additional 25,241 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Hancock Whitney by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,226,780 shares of the company’s stock valued at $424,801,000 after purchasing an additional 34,152 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its stake in Hancock Whitney by 35.4% in the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 102,103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,884,000 after purchasing an additional 26,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in Hancock Whitney by 22.1% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 59,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,746,000 after purchasing an additional 10,810 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.