Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Receives $58.00 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $58.00.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Stephens upgraded Hancock Whitney from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th.

Hancock Whitney Price Performance

Shares of Hancock Whitney stock opened at $54.85 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $56.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a PE ratio of 12.30 and a beta of 1.27. Hancock Whitney has a 12 month low of $41.19 and a 12 month high of $62.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 19.30% and a return on equity of 11.47%. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney will post 5.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO John M. Hairston sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 254,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,099,305.44. This represents a 6.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 763 shares of Hancock Whitney stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.40, for a total transaction of $39,981.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,232,343.20. This trade represents a 3.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,994 shares of company stock valued at $1,593,710 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hancock Whitney

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HWC. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in Hancock Whitney during the third quarter valued at $28,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney in the 2nd quarter worth about $43,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Hancock Whitney in the 2nd quarter worth about $63,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Hancock Whitney during the 3rd quarter valued at about $72,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Hancock Whitney during the 2nd quarter valued at about $95,000. 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.