Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Increases Stock Position in Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,898,504 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,172 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC owned 2.21% of Hancock Whitney worth $102,557,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Salzhauer Michael boosted its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 33.7% during the 4th quarter. Salzhauer Michael now owns 23,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,302,000 after acquiring an additional 6,000 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP raised its stake in Hancock Whitney by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 13,121 shares of the company’s stock valued at $718,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares in the last quarter. Inman Jager Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter valued at $696,000. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 13,831 shares of the company’s stock worth $757,000 after buying an additional 1,570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Point Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 6,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $360,000 after buying an additional 573 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Hancock Whitney Stock Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ:HWC opened at $59.10 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $5.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 1.27. Hancock Whitney Co. has a twelve month low of $41.43 and a twelve month high of $62.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.52.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.12. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 22.40% and a return on equity of 11.56%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.26 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Hancock Whitney Co. will post 5.43 EPS for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This is a positive change from Hancock Whitney’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.05%. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is presently 30.30%.

Hancock Whitney Company Profile

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.