Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

HWC has been the topic of several other reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Stephens decreased their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Hovde Group lowered Hancock Whitney from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $74.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $87.00 price target on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.56.

Hancock Whitney Price Performance

Shares of HWC opened at $76.29 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.19 billion, a PE ratio of 14.96 and a beta of 0.95. Hancock Whitney has a 1-year low of $54.05 and a 1-year high of $79.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.06.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.55. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.36% and a net margin of 21.81%.The company had revenue of $403.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $398.89 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. Hancock Whitney’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Hancock Whitney will post 6.45 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 417 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 25,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,683,432.56. This represents a 1.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael M. Achary sold 22,694 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.18, for a total value of $1,728,828.92. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 44,160 shares in the company, valued at $3,364,108.80. This represents a 33.95% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.92% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,070,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Hancock Whitney by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,790,954 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,652,000 after purchasing an additional 21,655 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the first quarter worth $1,520,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney in the first quarter valued at about $1,714,000. Finally, 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. Hedge funds and other 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.