Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Thursday.

HWC has been the topic of a number of other reports. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $72.00 target price (up from $64.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up previously from $68.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.56.

Hancock Whitney Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:HWC opened at $59.41 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.11 billion, a PE ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.77. Hancock Whitney has a 1 year low of $41.19 and a 1 year high of $62.40. 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 (NASDAQ:HWC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Hancock Whitney will post 5.16 EPS for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.30%.

Insider Activity

In other Hancock Whitney news, CEO John M. Hairston sold 18,000 shares of Hancock Whitney stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total value of $1,069,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 254,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,099,305.44. The trade was a 6.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 23,518 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,343.20. The trade was a 3.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HWC. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Hancock Whitney by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 12,845 shares of the company’s stock valued at $703,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,121 shares of the company’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. DMC Group LLC boosted its stake in Hancock Whitney by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. DMC Group LLC now owns 8,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $483,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Hancock Whitney by 14.2% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,000 after purchasing an additional 422 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EMC Capital Management increased its stake in Hancock Whitney by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 6,019 shares of the company’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.