Analysts Set Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Target Price at $62.56

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $62.56.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $72.00 target price (up from $64.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $74.00 price target (up from $68.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hancock Whitney

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HWC. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Grove Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the third quarter valued at approximately $72,000. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Hancock Whitney Trading Up 1.7 %

Hancock Whitney stock opened at $60.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.39 and a beta of 1.27. Hancock Whitney has a fifty-two week low of $41.56 and a fifty-two week high of $62.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $57.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.12. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 22.40% and a return on equity of 11.56%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.26 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney will post 5.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This is an increase from Hancock Whitney’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.30%.

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.