Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 42,904 Shares of Hancock Whitney Corporation $HWC

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) by 13.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 366,218 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 42,904 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Hancock Whitney were worth $23,288,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 0.6% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 24,457 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,555,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 3,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 1.9% during the first quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,472 shares of the company’s stock valued at $539,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 31.0% during the first quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 719 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,617 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on HWC shares. Benchmark assumed coverage on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price target on the stock. Hovde Group lowered Hancock Whitney from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $74.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, June 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Barclays increased their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price on Hancock Whitney from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.50.

Hancock Whitney Trading Down 1.5%

NASDAQ:HWC opened at $77.29 on Tuesday. Hancock Whitney Corporation has a 52 week low of $54.05 and a 52 week high of $79.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $71.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $6.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.87 and a beta of 0.95.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $393.64 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $400.01 million. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.20% and a net margin of 21.34%.The company’s revenue was down 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Hancock Whitney Corporation will post 6.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hancock Whitney news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 417 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.16, for a total value of $28,005.72. Following the transaction, the director owned 25,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,683,432.56. The trade was a 1.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

Hancock Whitney Company Profile

Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ: HWC) is a regional financial services company headquartered in Gulfport, Mississippi. The firm was established in April 2019 through the merger of Hancock Holding Company and Whitney Holding Corporation, each of which traced its roots to the late 19th century. This combination created one of the largest bank holding companies in the Gulf South region, with a network of branches serving both urban and rural communities.

The company’s core business activities include commercial banking, retail banking and wealth management services.