7,237 Shares in Hancock Whitney Corporation $HWC Acquired by Balefire LLC

Key Points

• Balefire LLC acquired 7,237 shares of Hancock Whitney Corporation, representing a value of approximately $415,000 during the second quarter.
• Several institutional investors have increased their holdings in Hancock Whitney, with hedge funds owning 81.22% of the stock.
• Hancock Whitney recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, providing a 2.9% dividend yield for shareholders.

Balefire LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 7,237 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $415,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of HWC. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Hancock Whitney by 50.4% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,057,103 shares of the company's stock valued at $160,345,000 after acquiring an additional 1,024,869 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the 1st quarter valued at $43,019,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the 1st quarter valued at $38,163,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 294.0% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 391,446 shares of the company's stock valued at $20,531,000 after purchasing an additional 292,097 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 12.7% during the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,089,454 shares of the company's stock valued at $109,592,000 after purchasing an additional 235,363 shares during the last quarter. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HWC traded down $0.64 on Friday, hitting $63.67. The stock had a trading volume of 1,879,978 shares, compared to its average volume of 728,874. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $61.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.15. The stock has a market cap of $5.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.73 and a beta of 1.13. Hancock Whitney Corporation has a 52-week low of $43.90 and a 52-week high of $64.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $377.98 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $375.99 million. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.21% and a net margin of 23.28%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Hancock Whitney Corporation will post 5.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Hancock Whitney's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.15%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on HWC shares. Hovde Group boosted their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Hancock Whitney from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Hancock Whitney from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Hancock Whitney from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered Hancock Whitney from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $63.00 in a report on Friday, July 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $68.25.

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.