Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Given “Equal Weight” Rating at Stephens

Stephens reiterated their equal weight rating on shares of Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $50.00 target price on the stock.

HWC has been the topic of several other research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Citigroup raised shares of Hancock Whitney from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their price target for the company from $48.00 to $50.00 in a report on Wednesday. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Sunday, March 31st. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $49.75.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

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

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

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 5th were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 4th. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Christopher S. Ziluca sold 3,636 shares of the business’s 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 owns 35,285 shares in the company, valued at $1,534,897.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Christopher S. Ziluca sold 3,636 shares of the business’s 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 owns 35,285 shares in the company, valued at $1,534,897.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO D Shane Loper sold 17,690 shares of Hancock Whitney stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.81, for a total transaction of $828,068.90. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 71,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,330,437.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,225 shares of company stock worth $1,634,014. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HWC. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Hancock Whitney during the first quarter worth $203,000. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in Hancock Whitney by 8.7% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 32,911 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,717,000 after buying an additional 2,641 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Hancock Whitney by 12.4% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Hancock Whitney during the first quarter worth $783,000. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its stake in Hancock Whitney by 10.5% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 31,821 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,659,000 after buying an additional 3,034 shares during the period. 81.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.