Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Hits New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Zacks Research upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating. The company traded as high as $75.63 and last traded at $75.4880, with a volume of 55592 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $74.72.

HWC has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Autonomous Res cut shares of Hancock Whitney from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Hovde Group cut Hancock Whitney from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $74.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.25.

Insider Activity at Hancock Whitney

In other Hancock Whitney news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 417 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.16, for a total value of $28,005.72. Following the sale, the director directly owned 25,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,683,432.56. This represents a 1.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hancock Whitney

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,790,954 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,652,000 after buying an additional 21,655 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,521,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $287,935,000 after acquiring an additional 126,367 shares during the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney in the 4th quarter valued at about $80,246,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 920,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,595,000 after acquiring an additional 162,482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 134.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 909,460 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,941,000 after acquiring an additional 521,261 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $69.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.58. The stock has a market cap of $6.06 billion, a PE ratio of 15.32 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.04. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 21.34% and a return on equity of 11.20%. The company had revenue of $393.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $400.01 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Hancock Whitney Corporation will post 6.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.07%.

About Hancock Whitney

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.