Brokerages Set Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) PT at $60.63

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $62.56.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HWC. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $72.00 price target (up previously from $64.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a report on Wednesday. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $74.00 target price (up from $68.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut shares of Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th.

Hancock Whitney Price Performance

Shares of Hancock Whitney stock opened at $59.41 on Friday. Hancock Whitney has a twelve month low of $41.19 and a twelve month high of $62.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.77.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Hancock Whitney will post 5.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Hancock Whitney

In related news, CEO John M. Hairston sold 18,000 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $15,099,305.44. This represents a 6.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 763 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.40, for a total transaction of $39,981.20. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,232,343.20. This represents a 3.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hancock Whitney

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $117,000. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 38,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,825,000 after purchasing an additional 1,784 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,980,204 shares of the company’s stock worth $238,197,000 after buying an additional 167,304 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 18.5% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 10,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $520,000 after buying an additional 1,699 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Hancock Whitney in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,799,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

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.