Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Shares Sold by Quantbot Technologies LP

Quantbot Technologies LP reduced its position in Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) by 24.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,052 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,150 shares during the quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Hancock Whitney were worth $1,863,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in HWC. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 105.7% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 74,736 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,824,000 after buying an additional 38,398 shares during the period. Pathstone Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 32,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,675,000 after buying an additional 2,134 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney in the 3rd quarter worth $810,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,154,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,093,000 after buying an additional 46,622 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 149,118 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,630,000 after buying an additional 20,213 shares during the period. 81.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on HWC. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $72.00 price objective (up from $64.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $74.00 target price (up from $68.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded Hancock Whitney from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, 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 note on Wednesday, December 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hancock Whitney has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.56.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

Shares of HWC stock opened at $52.30 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The business has a 50 day moving average of $56.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.27. Hancock Whitney Co. has a 52 week low of $41.56 and a 52 week high of $62.40. The company has a market cap of $4.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.91 and a beta of 1.24.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Hancock Whitney Co. will post 5.53 EPS for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a $0.45 dividend. This is an increase from Hancock Whitney’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is presently 34.09%.

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.