Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) Receives $75.63 Average Target Price from Analysts

Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) has received a consensus 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 rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $75.6250.

Several research firms have commented on HWC. 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 note on Wednesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Hancock Whitney from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th.

Hancock Whitney Stock Down 0.9%

NASDAQ HWC opened at $66.97 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a fifty day moving average of $66.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.79 and a beta of 1.02. Hancock Whitney has a 52 week low of $47.39 and a 52 week high of $75.43.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 20th. The company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $81.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $391.63 million. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 24.05% and a return on equity of 11.16%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Hancock Whitney will post 5.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Hancock Whitney’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is presently 35.21%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Christopher S. Ziluca sold 5,227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.57, for a total transaction of $358,415.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 33,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,283,449.57. The trade was a 13.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hancock Whitney

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,521,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $287,935,000 after purchasing an additional 126,367 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 10.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,878,121 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,589,000 after purchasing an additional 182,845 shares during the period. Channing Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter valued at $80,246,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 920,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,595,000 after purchasing an additional 162,482 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 134.3% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 909,460 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,941,000 after purchasing an additional 521,261 shares during the period. 81.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Hancock Whitney

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.