Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Purchases Shares of 820,192 Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 820,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $43,019,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 0.95% of Hancock Whitney as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,097,563 shares of the company's stock valued at $552,539,000 after buying an additional 181,706 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 6.8% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,027,364 shares of the company's stock valued at $105,139,000 after buying an additional 128,860 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,321,280 shares of the company's stock valued at $72,300,000 after buying an additional 193,028 shares in the last quarter. 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 valued at $69,229,000 after buying an additional 66,074 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter worth about $54,605,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.22% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HWC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Hancock Whitney from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Stephens reduced their target price on Hancock Whitney from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Hancock Whitney from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $63.00 in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Hovde Group upped their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hancock Whitney has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $66.71.

Hancock Whitney Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of HWC traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $60.38. The stock had a trading volume of 840,724 shares, compared to its average volume of 634,144. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $56.72 and a 200 day moving average of $55.19. The company has a market cap of $5.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.99 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Hancock Whitney Corporation has a 52 week low of $43.90 and a 52 week high of $62.40.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The company reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.01. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.21% and a net margin of 23.28%. The firm had revenue of $377.98 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $375.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. On average, sell-side 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 was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. Hancock Whitney's dividend payout ratio is 33.15%.

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.