Dark Forest Capital Management LP Increases Stock Position in Hancock Whitney Corporation $HWC

Key Points

• Dark Forest Capital Management LP increased its stake in Hancock Whitney Corporation by 139.1%, acquiring an additional 43,554 shares to reach a total of 74,864 shares valued at approximately $3.93 million.
• Hancock Whitney Corporation's quarterly earnings report showed an EPS of $1.37, surpassing the consensus estimate by $0.01, with a reported revenue of $377.98 million.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, yielding 2.9%, with the payment scheduled for September 15th.

Dark Forest Capital Management LP grew its position in Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC - Free Report) by 139.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 74,864 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 43,554 shares during the quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP owned approximately 0.09% of Hancock Whitney worth $3,927,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of HWC. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 50.4% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,057,103 shares of the company's stock valued at $160,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,869 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney in the 1st quarter valued at $43,019,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney in the 1st quarter valued at $38,163,000. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney in the 4th quarter valued at $24,775,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 294.0% in 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. 81.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hancock Whitney Stock Down 1.3%

HWC traded down $0.81 during trading on Friday, hitting $62.72. 853,421 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 588,601. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The business's 50 day moving average is $60.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.74. Hancock Whitney Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $43.90 and a fifty-two week high of $64.25. The stock has a market cap of $5.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.55 and a beta of 1.13.

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

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Hancock Whitney's dividend payout ratio is presently 33.15%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on HWC shares. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Hovde Group boosted their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $62.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Friday, July 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $67.63.

Hancock Whitney Company Profile

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.