Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $61.25.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $62.00 price target (down from $72.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $68.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $69.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 target price (up previously from $68.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Hancock Whitney from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd.

Hancock Whitney Price Performance

NASDAQ HWC opened at $53.78 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $54.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.19 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Hancock Whitney has a 12-month low of $43.60 and a 12-month high of $62.40.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $367.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $368.12 million. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.56% and a net margin of 22.40%. Analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney will post 5.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hancock Whitney news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 838 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.09, for a total value of $40,299.42. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,106,983.71. This represents a 3.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.91% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hancock Whitney

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HWC. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 50.4% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,057,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,345,000 after buying an additional 1,024,869 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $54,605,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new stake in Hancock Whitney in the 1st quarter worth approximately $43,019,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,163,000. Finally, Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,775,000. Hedge funds and other 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.