Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Given New $57.00 Price Target at DA Davidson

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) had its price target hoisted by DA Davidson from $55.00 to $57.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock. DA Davidson also issued estimates for Hancock Whitney’s FY2024 earnings at $4.95 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $5.21 EPS.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on HWC. StockNews.com lowered Hancock Whitney from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Sunday, March 31st. Stephens decreased their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $51.00 to $45.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on Hancock Whitney from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Hancock Whitney currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $49.75.

Hancock Whitney Stock Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ:HWC opened at $42.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a PE ratio of 9.94 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $43.55 and a 200-day moving average of $42.43. Hancock Whitney has a 52 week low of $31.02 and a 52 week high of $49.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 16th. The company reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.07. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 12.08% and a net margin of 19.07%. The company had revenue of $308.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $355.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.65 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Hancock Whitney will post 4.8 EPS for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 4th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.97%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Christopher S. Ziluca sold 3,636 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total transaction of $158,166.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 35,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,534,897.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Christopher S. Ziluca sold 3,636 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total transaction of $158,166.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 35,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,534,897.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO D Shane Loper sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.81, for a total value of $828,068.90. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 71,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,330,437.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 35,225 shares of company stock worth $1,634,014. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hancock Whitney

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HWC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter valued at $46,846,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter worth $38,143,000. Wasatch Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney in the first quarter worth $22,744,000. State Street Corp increased 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 worth $238,218,000 after acquiring an additional 596,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citadel Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 worth $19,616,000 after acquiring an additional 286,206 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.