Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Receives $54.81 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC – Get Rating) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $54.81.

Several brokerages have commented on HWC. DA Davidson lowered their price objective 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. Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $61.00 to $58.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 18th. Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.50 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 18th.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

Hancock Whitney stock opened at $38.54 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $49.08 and a 200-day moving average of $50.12. The firm has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.44 and a beta of 1.35. Hancock Whitney has a 1-year low of $35.51 and a 1-year high of $57.00.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 17th. The company reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $375.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $388.47 million. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 35.69% and a return on equity of 15.73%. Hancock Whitney’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Hancock Whitney will post 6.09 EPS for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 3rd. This is a boost from Hancock Whitney’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.07%.

Insider Transactions at Hancock Whitney

In other news, insider Cecil W. Knight, Jr. sold 6,675 shares of Hancock Whitney stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 30,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,515,628.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of HWC. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new stake in Hancock Whitney in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in Hancock Whitney by 279.3% in the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 660 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. River Oaks Capital LLC lifted its stake in Hancock Whitney by 75.0% in the 3rd quarter. River Oaks Capital LLC now owns 700 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Hancock Whitney by 81.0% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 760 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Hancock Whitney by 151.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 904 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Hancock Whitney Company Profile

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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.