Short Interest in Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Expands By 7.6%

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,680,000 shares, an increase of 7.6% from the October 15th total of 2,490,000 shares. Currently, 3.2% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 517,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.2 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Michael M. Achary sold 8,431 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.55, for a total value of $443,049.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 54,380 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,857,669. This represents a 13.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO John M. Hairston sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total transaction of $1,069,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 254,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,099,305.44. This trade represents a 6.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,994 shares of company stock worth $1,593,710 over the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hancock Whitney

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,226,780 shares of the company’s stock worth $424,801,000 after buying an additional 34,152 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,980,204 shares of the company’s stock worth $238,197,000 after purchasing an additional 167,304 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,297,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $219,917,000 after purchasing an additional 73,316 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,149,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,016,000 after purchasing an additional 30,239 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 20.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,401,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,015,000 after purchasing an additional 237,526 shares during the last quarter. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HWC traded down $0.98 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $57.47. The stock had a trading volume of 704,628 shares, compared to its average volume of 509,543. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.11 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.16. Hancock Whitney has a 52 week low of $39.38 and a 52 week high of $61.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $525.37 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.54 million. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 19.30% and a return on equity of 11.47%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.12 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Hancock Whitney will post 5.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.78%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on HWC shares. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.89.

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.