Hancock Whitney’s (HWC) “Overweight” Rating Reiterated at Stephens

Stephens reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) in a report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $74.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $68.00.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on HWC. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Raymond James raised shares of Hancock Whitney from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.56.

Hancock Whitney Stock Down 0.7 %

HWC opened at $58.97 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.17 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $57.32 and its 200 day moving average is $53.81. Hancock Whitney has a fifty-two week low of $41.19 and a fifty-two week high of $62.40.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.12. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.56% and a net margin of 22.40%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.26 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is 30.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO John M. Hairston sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total value of $1,069,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 254,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,099,305.44. This trade represents a 6.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 763 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.40, for a total value of $39,981.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,518 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,343.20. This represents a 3.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hancock Whitney

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Trust Point Inc. lifted its stake in Hancock Whitney by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 6,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 573 shares during the last quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter worth approximately $208,000. BTC Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. EMC Capital Management boosted its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 6,019 shares of the company’s stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares during the period. Finally, DMC Group LLC grew its position in Hancock Whitney by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. DMC Group LLC now owns 8,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $483,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. 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.