Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) Receives $79.25 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $79.25.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Hancock Whitney from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Zacks Research upgraded Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Autonomous Res cut Hancock Whitney from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 417 shares of Hancock Whitney 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 25,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,683,432.56. The trade was a 1.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hancock Whitney

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,094,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 26.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 348,993 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,850,000 after acquiring an additional 72,433 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new stake in Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter worth about $6,070,000. Schroder Investment Management Group purchased a new stake in Hancock Whitney in the third quarter worth approximately $23,457,000. Finally, Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney in the 4th quarter valued at $576,000. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hancock Whitney Price Performance

Hancock Whitney stock opened at $74.61 on Friday. Hancock Whitney has a 12 month low of $54.05 and a 12 month high of $76.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.58. The company has a market cap of $6.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.32 and a beta of 0.94.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $393.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $400.01 million. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.20% and a net margin of 21.34%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney will post 6.47 EPS for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.07%.

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.