Brokerages Set Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Target Price at $58.00

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the nine research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $58.00.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson increased their target price on Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Raymond James upgraded Hancock Whitney from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stephens raised Hancock Whitney from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HWC traded up $0.35 during trading on Monday, reaching $54.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 434,495 shares, compared to its average volume of 509,832. Hancock Whitney has a 12 month low of $41.19 and a 12 month high of $62.40. The firm has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.27 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $56.38 and a 200-day moving average of $52.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $525.37 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.54 million. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 19.30% and a return on equity of 11.47%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Hancock Whitney will post 5.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. Hancock Whitney's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.87%.

Insider Activity at Hancock Whitney

In other Hancock Whitney news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 763 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.40, for a total value of $39,981.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,518 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,232,343.20. This represents a 3.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Carleton Richard Wilkins sold 800 shares of Hancock Whitney stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.95, for a total transaction of $40,760.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,900 shares in the company, valued at $810,105. This trade represents a 4.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,994 shares of company stock valued at $1,593,710 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hancock Whitney

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,980,204 shares of the company's stock valued at $238,197,000 after acquiring an additional 167,304 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 1.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,297,776 shares of the company's stock valued at $219,917,000 after purchasing an additional 73,316 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,149,648 shares of the company's stock worth $110,016,000 after purchasing an additional 30,239 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 20.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,401,113 shares of the company's stock worth $67,015,000 after buying an additional 237,526 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,154,835 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,093,000 after buying an additional 46,622 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.