Engineers Gate Manager LP Takes Position in Hancock Whitney Corporation $HWC

Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 24,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,794,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,909 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 24,457 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,555,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. BTC Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,472 shares of the company’s stock worth $539,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 31.0% in the first quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 26.0% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 852 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Hancock Whitney from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Hovde Group lowered shares of Hancock Whitney from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $74.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $87.00 target price on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hancock Whitney presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.78.

Hancock Whitney Price Performance

Hancock Whitney stock opened at $75.93 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. Hancock Whitney Corporation has a 52 week low of $54.05 and a 52 week high of $80.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.89 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $76.36 and a 200-day moving average of $70.60.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.55. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.36% and a net margin of 21.81%.The business had revenue of $403.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $398.89 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. Hancock Whitney’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Hancock Whitney Corporation will post 6.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio is 39.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Michael M. Achary sold 22,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.18, for a total transaction of $1,728,828.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 44,160 shares in the company, valued at $3,364,108.80. This represents a 33.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Emory L. Mayfield, Jr. sold 4,990 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.40, for a total transaction of $381,236.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 15,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,189,166. This represents a 24.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

Hancock Whitney Company Profile

Hancock Whitney Corporation is a financial services company headquartered in Gulfport, Mississippi, and the parent company of Hancock Whitney Bank. The bank provides banking and financial services to individuals, families, businesses and institutions across the Gulf South.

Its offerings include personal and business deposit accounts, consumer and commercial loans, residential and commercial real estate financing, treasury management, online and mobile banking, investment services and wealth management.