Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) have earned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $70.1429.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on HWC. Wall Street Zen lowered Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler boosted their price target 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. Finally, Hovde Group raised their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th.

Insider Activity at Hancock Whitney

In related news, CFO Michael M. Achary sold 9,894 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.86, for a total value of $542,784.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 55,733 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,057,512.38. This represents a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hancock Whitney

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 5.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 274,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,172,000 after purchasing an additional 13,691 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 26.2% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 348,993 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,850,000 after purchasing an additional 72,433 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 25.4% during the third quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 125,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,846,000 after purchasing an additional 25,389 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,878,121 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,589,000 after buying an additional 182,845 shares during the period. Finally, Ibex Wealth Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney in the 3rd quarter valued at $432,000. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

Shares of Hancock Whitney stock opened at $59.33 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.70. Hancock Whitney has a fifty-two week low of $43.90 and a fifty-two week high of $64.66. The firm has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.61 and a beta of 1.18.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $0.03 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $391.32 million. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.29% and a net margin of 23.99%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Hancock Whitney will post 5.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.20%.

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.