Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Receives $56.89 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC - Get Free Report) have earned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the nine brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $56.89.

HWC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. DA Davidson raised their target price on Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HWC traded down $0.40 during trading on Thursday, reaching $59.94. 251,244 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 509,248. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $54.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.83. The stock has a market cap of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.44 and a beta of 1.25. Hancock Whitney has a 12-month low of $39.38 and a 12-month high of $62.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

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

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. Hancock Whitney's payout ratio is 35.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO John M. Hairston sold 18,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total transaction of $1,069,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 254,026 shares in the company, valued at $15,099,305.44. The trade was a 6.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael M. Achary sold 8,431 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.55, for a total value of $443,049.05. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 54,380 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,857,669. This represents a 13.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 27,994 shares of company stock worth $1,593,710. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 707.2% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 576,264 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,563,000 after buying an additional 504,873 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 213.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 735,790 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,663,000 after buying an additional 501,259 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp raised its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 30.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 1,069,223 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,141,000 after buying an additional 252,473 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 20.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,401,113 shares of the company's stock valued at $67,015,000 after buying an additional 237,526 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 149.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 321,196 shares of the company's stock valued at $16,435,000 after buying an additional 192,295 shares during the period. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.