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

Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) has received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $75.25.

HWC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Monday, December 29th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HWC opened at $71.18 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market capitalization of $5.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.53 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $68.21 and a 200 day moving average of $63.30. Hancock Whitney has a 52 week low of $43.90 and a 52 week high of $75.43.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $81.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $391.63 million. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.16% and a net margin of 24.05%.During the same period last year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Hancock Whitney will post 5.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. This is a boost from Hancock Whitney’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.69%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Christopher S. Ziluca sold 5,227 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.57, for a total transaction of $358,415.39. Following the transaction, the insider owned 33,301 shares in the company, valued at $2,283,449.57. This represents a 13.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hancock Whitney

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Hancock Whitney by 44.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 283,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,764,000 after buying an additional 87,227 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Hancock Whitney by 83.0% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 850,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,827,000 after buying an additional 385,784 shares during the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new stake in Hancock Whitney during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $544,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 47.8% in the 2nd quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC now owns 13,266 shares of the company’s stock valued at $761,000 after acquiring an additional 4,290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 126,754.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 457,944 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,671,000 after acquiring an additional 457,583 shares during the last quarter. 81.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hancock Whitney Company Profile

Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ: HWC) is a regional financial services company headquartered in Gulfport, Mississippi. The firm was established in April 2019 through the merger of Hancock Holding Company and Whitney Holding Corporation, each of which traced its roots to the late 19th century. This combination created one of the largest bank holding companies in the Gulf South region, with a network of branches serving both urban and rural communities.

The company’s core business activities include commercial banking, retail banking and wealth management services.