Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Cut to “Market Perform” at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC – Get Rating) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note published on Tuesday, The Fly reports. They currently have $50.00 price target on the stock, down from their prior price target of $60.00.

HWC has been the subject of several other research reports. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $56.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 18th. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $61.00 to $58.00 and set a strong-buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 18th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hancock Whitney has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $54.81.

Hancock Whitney Price Performance

Hancock Whitney stock opened at $38.82 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.49 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Hancock Whitney has a 1 year low of $37.00 and a 1 year high of $57.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $49.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.29.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 17th. The company reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $375.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $388.47 million. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 35.69% and a return on equity of 15.73%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney will post 6.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 3rd. This is a positive change from Hancock Whitney’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is 20.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Cecil W. Knight, Jr. sold 6,675 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.12, for a total transaction of $334,551.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,515,628.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in Hancock Whitney during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in Hancock Whitney by 279.3% during the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. River Oaks Capital LLC increased its stake in Hancock Whitney by 75.0% during the 3rd quarter. River Oaks Capital LLC now owns 700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Hancock Whitney by 81.0% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new position in Hancock Whitney during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

About Hancock Whitney

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Hancock Whitney Corp. operates as a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of financial services. It also offers trust and investment management services to retirement plans, corporations, individuals, brokerage services, annuity products, life insurance, general insurance and agency services, including life, title insurance and consumer financing service.