Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $83.5556.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HWC. Barclays raised their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $87.00 target price on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hancock Whitney news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 417 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director directly owned 25,066 shares in the company, valued at $1,683,432.56. This represents a 1.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.92% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hancock Whitney

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Hancock Whitney by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,790,954 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,652,000 after acquiring an additional 21,655 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted 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 bought a new stake in Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $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 during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its stake 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 valued at $56,941,000 after purchasing an additional 521,261 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

NASDAQ HWC opened at $76.20 on Tuesday. Hancock Whitney has a 52-week low of $54.05 and a 52-week high of $79.36. The company has a fifty day moving average of $72.04 and a 200-day moving average of $68.79. The company has a market capitalization of $6.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.94 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $398.89 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Hancock Whitney will post 6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is currently 39.22%.

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.