Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP Lowers Stock Holdings in Hancock Whitney Corporation $HWC

Key Points

• Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP has significantly reduced its stake in Hancock Whitney Corporation by 60.8%, selling 6,465 shares during the first quarter.
• Multiple analysts have issued new price targets for Hancock Whitney, with Hovde Group raising its target from $65.00 to $72.00 and Raymond James maintaining a "strong-buy" rating.
• Hancock Whitney recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.45, equating to an annualized dividend yield of 2.8%.

Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP cut its position in shares of Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC - Free Report) by 60.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,166 shares of the company's stock after selling 6,465 shares during the quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP's holdings in Hancock Whitney were worth $219,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of HWC. GeoWealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter worth $65,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 169.3% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 10,329 shares of the company's stock worth $565,000 after purchasing an additional 6,494 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 14,572 shares of the company's stock worth $797,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 63,921 shares of the company's stock worth $3,498,000 after purchasing an additional 5,992 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,265,146 shares of the company's stock worth $69,229,000 after purchasing an additional 66,074 shares during the last quarter. 81.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on HWC. DA Davidson raised their price target on Hancock Whitney from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Hancock Whitney from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Hancock Whitney from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Hancock Whitney from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Friday, July 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $67.63.

Hancock Whitney Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:HWC traded up $0.86 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $63.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 593,543 shares, compared to its average volume of 718,048. The firm has a market cap of $5.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.70 and a beta of 1.11. 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 Corporation has a 1 year low of $43.90 and a 1 year high of $63.82. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $59.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.50.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $377.98 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $375.99 million. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.21% and a net margin of 23.28%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney Corporation will post 5.53 EPS for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Hancock Whitney's payout ratio is currently 33.15%.

Hancock Whitney 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.