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

Citigroup upgraded shares of Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $50.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $48.00.

HWC has been the topic of several other research reports. DA Davidson reiterated a buy rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Hancock Whitney from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Sunday, March 31st. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, January 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hancock Whitney has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $50.71.

Hancock Whitney Trading Up 3.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ HWC opened at $44.27 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $43.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.49. The company has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a PE ratio of 10.32 and a beta of 1.33. Hancock Whitney has a 52-week low of $31.02 and a 52-week high of $49.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 16th. The company reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.07. The firm 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 11.89%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Hancock Whitney will post 4.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were issued 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 yield of 2.71%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hancock Whitney

In other Hancock Whitney news, insider Joseph S. Exnicios sold 9,857 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.15, for a total value of $464,757.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,159 shares in the company, valued at $1,421,996.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Hancock Whitney news, insider Joseph S. Exnicios sold 9,857 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.15, for a total value of $464,757.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,159 shares in the company, valued at $1,421,996.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO D Shane Loper sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now 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 ninety days, insiders sold 31,183 shares of company stock valued at $1,450,992. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hancock Whitney

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 13.1% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 832,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,791,000 after acquiring an additional 96,522 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 4.2% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 122,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,516,000 after acquiring an additional 4,886 shares during the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 16.0% during the third quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 1,407,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,064,000 after acquiring an additional 194,100 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,039,436 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,449,000 after acquiring an additional 14,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its position in Hancock Whitney by 5.8% during the third quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 443,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,388,000 after purchasing an additional 24,290 shares during the last quarter. 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.