Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Raises Dividend to $0.45 Per Share

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 31st,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.45 per share on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This is an increase from Hancock Whitney’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40.

Hancock Whitney has raised its dividend payment by an average of 11.6% per year over the last three years. Hancock Whitney has a payout ratio of 28.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Hancock Whitney to earn $5.59 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.6%.

Hancock Whitney Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of HWC traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $59.74. The company had a trading volume of 649,852 shares, compared to its average volume of 713,013. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.31 and a beta of 1.27. Hancock Whitney has a 1 year low of $41.19 and a 1 year high of $62.40.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.12. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.56% and a net margin of 22.40%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.26 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Hancock Whitney will post 5.39 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO John M. Hairston sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total value of $1,069,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 254,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,099,305.44. This represents a 6.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HWC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $74.00 price target (up previously from $68.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com lowered Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $72.00 target price (up previously from $64.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.56.

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.