Raymond James & Associates Acquires 19,834 Shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC)

Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC – Get Rating) by 14.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 154,272 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,834 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Hancock Whitney were worth $7,465,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 7.5% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 11,934,754 shares of the company’s stock valued at $546,731,000 after acquiring an additional 837,780 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 15.0% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,567,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $238,218,000 after acquiring an additional 596,516 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 3,168.6% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 508,198 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,890,000 after acquiring an additional 492,650 shares during the last quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 183.1% in the second quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 442,487 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,616,000 after purchasing an additional 286,206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 13.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,295,121 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,690,000 after purchasing an additional 266,428 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Sonia Perez purchased 2,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 21st. The stock was bought at an average price of $36.54 per share, with a total value of $100,009.98. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 4,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $170,459.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered shares of Hancock Whitney from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.50 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, March 14th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $58.00 to $46.00 in a report on Friday, March 17th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Hancock Whitney in a report on Thursday. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Hancock Whitney presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.56.

Hancock Whitney Price Performance

HWC opened at $35.47 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $35.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Hancock Whitney Co. has a 52 week low of $31.02 and a 52 week high of $57.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a PE ratio of 5.88 and a beta of 1.31.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 18th. The company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 32.92% and a return on equity of 15.73%. The firm had revenue of $452.93 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $364.87 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Hancock Whitney Co. will post 5.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 5th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 2nd. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.90%.

Hancock Whitney 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.