Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Upgraded to “Buy” at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. Citigroup currently has $50.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $48.00.

HWC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stephens reduced their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of Hancock Whitney from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Sunday, March 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $51.00 to $45.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 8th. DA Davidson reissued a buy rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $49.75.

Hancock Whitney Price Performance

Shares of HWC stock opened at $42.66 on Wednesday. Hancock Whitney has a 52-week low of $31.02 and a 52-week high of $49.65. The stock has a market cap of $3.69 billion, a PE ratio of 9.94 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $43.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.43.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 16th. The company reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.07. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 19.07% and a return on equity of 12.08%. The firm had revenue of $308.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $355.51 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney will post 4.8 EPS for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hancock Whitney

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Hancock Whitney by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 12,107,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $464,688,000 after buying an additional 42,241 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,192,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $446,670,000 after acquiring an additional 95,432 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,749,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,786,000 after acquiring an additional 249,944 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 15.0% in the 1st 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 period. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 4,264,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,030,000 after acquiring an additional 21,842 shares during the period. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hancock Whitney Company Profile

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.