Analysts Set Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) Price Target at $78.14

Shares of Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $78.1429.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Hancock Whitney from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Hancock Whitney from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd.

Hancock Whitney Price Performance

Shares of HWC opened at $67.23 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $5.46 billion, a PE ratio of 13.80 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. Hancock Whitney has a fifty-two week low of $52.89 and a fifty-two week high of $75.43. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.00.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $393.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $400.01 million. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 21.34% and a return on equity of 11.20%. The business’s revenue was down 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Hancock Whitney will post 6.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.07%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 417 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.16, for a total value of $28,005.72. Following the transaction, the director owned 25,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,683,432.56. This represents a 1.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HWC. Channing Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter worth approximately $80,246,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter worth approximately $57,463,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 18,614.2% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 535,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,071,000 after buying an additional 532,180 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 134.3% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 909,460 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,941,000 after buying an additional 521,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 126,754.3% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 457,944 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,671,000 after buying an additional 457,583 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

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.