Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Earns “Overweight” Rating from Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $52.00 price objective on the stock, down from their prior price objective of $55.00.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on HWC. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Citigroup upgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $50.00 in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $51.00 to $45.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 8th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Hancock Whitney from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Sunday, March 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $50.71.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

Hancock Whitney stock opened at $44.27 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a PE ratio of 10.32 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.49. Hancock Whitney has a twelve month low of $31.02 and a twelve month high of $49.65.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 16th. The company reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $308.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $355.51 million. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 19.07% and a return on equity of 11.89%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Hancock Whitney will post 4.82 EPS for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 5th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 4th. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is currently 27.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hancock Whitney news, insider Christopher S. Ziluca sold 3,636 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total transaction of $158,166.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 35,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,534,897.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Hancock Whitney news, insider Christopher S. Ziluca sold 3,636 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total transaction of $158,166.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 35,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,534,897.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO D Shane Loper sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.81, for a total transaction of $828,068.90. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 71,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,330,437.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,183 shares of company stock valued at $1,450,992 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hancock Whitney

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 0.4% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 12,107,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $464,688,000 after purchasing an additional 42,241 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,192,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $446,670,000 after acquiring an additional 95,432 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,749,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,786,000 after acquiring an additional 249,944 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 15.0% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,567,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $238,218,000 after acquiring an additional 596,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 0.5% during the second quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 4,264,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,030,000 after acquiring an additional 21,842 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

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.