Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Sets New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Shares of Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $76.69 and last traded at $76.4760, with a volume of 37702 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $75.94.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on HWC shares. Benchmark began coverage on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Zacks Research upgraded Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Hancock Whitney from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Hancock Whitney from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hancock Whitney presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $80.50.

Hancock Whitney Price Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $70.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market cap of $6.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.62 and a beta of 0.95.

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

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hancock Whitney

In other news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 417 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.16, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 1.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hancock Whitney

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,790,954 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,652,000 after purchasing an additional 21,655 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Hancock Whitney by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,521,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $287,935,000 after purchasing an additional 126,367 shares during the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter valued at about $80,246,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 920,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,595,000 after purchasing an additional 162,482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG grew its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 134.3% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 909,460 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,941,000 after purchasing an additional 521,261 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

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.