Raymond James Financial Issues Positive Forecast for Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Stock Price

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) had its price target boosted by Raymond James Financial from $68.00 to $73.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a strong-buy rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Hancock Whitney from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered Hancock Whitney from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Friday, July 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.25.

Hancock Whitney Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:HWC opened at $62.90 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.76. Hancock Whitney has a 12 month low of $43.90 and a 12 month high of $64.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a market capitalization of $5.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 1.13.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $377.98 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $375.99 million. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 23.28% and a return on equity of 11.21%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Hancock Whitney will post 5.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.15%.

Institutional Trading of Hancock Whitney

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HWC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Hancock Whitney during the second quarter valued at approximately $60,224,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 50.4% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,057,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,869 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new stake in Hancock Whitney in the first quarter valued at $43,019,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Hancock Whitney in the first quarter worth about $38,163,000. Finally, Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $24,775,000. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.