California Public Employees Retirement System Grows Stake in Hancock Whitney Corporation $HWC

California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) by 13.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 191,032 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,967 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.23% of Hancock Whitney worth $12,148,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 24,457 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,555,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 3,517 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Hancock Whitney by 1.9% during the first quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,472 shares of the company’s stock valued at $539,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the period. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Hancock Whitney by 31.0% during the first quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Hovde Group downgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $74.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 12th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings lowered Hancock Whitney from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Benchmark raised their target price on Hancock Whitney from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $87.00 target price on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Hancock Whitney has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 417 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.16, for a total value of $28,005.72. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 25,066 shares in the company, valued at $1,683,432.56. The trade was a 1.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.92% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

HWC opened at $76.20 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $6.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.94 and a beta of 0.95. Hancock Whitney Corporation has a 1-year low of $54.05 and a 1-year high of $79.36.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.55. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 21.81% and a return on equity of 11.36%. The firm had revenue of $403.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $398.89 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney Corporation will post 6.47 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, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.07%.

Hancock Whitney 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.