Raymond James Reiterates Strong-Buy Rating for Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC)

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC)‘s stock had its “strong-buy” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Raymond James in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $72.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $64.00. Raymond James’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 21.19% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on HWC. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up from $68.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.56.

Hancock Whitney Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ HWC opened at $59.41 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $57.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Hancock Whitney has a 1-year low of $41.19 and a 1-year high of $62.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 1.27.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.12. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.66% and a net margin of 22.40%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.26 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Hancock Whitney will post 5.16 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Hancock Whitney

In other Hancock Whitney news, CEO John M. Hairston sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total transaction of $1,069,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 254,026 shares in the company, valued at $15,099,305.44. This represents a 6.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 763 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.40, for a total value of $39,981.20. Following the sale, the director now owns 23,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,232,343.20. This represents a 3.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hancock Whitney

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in Hancock Whitney during the third quarter worth $28,000. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter worth $49,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Hancock Whitney during the third quarter worth $72,000. Finally, CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 170.3% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,000 after purchasing an additional 1,677 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 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.