Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) Given Average Recommendation of "Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Hancock Whitney has a consensus analyst rating of “Buy” from 10 brokerages, with an average 1-year price target of $80.50.
• Recent analyst moves were mixed but generally supportive, including target price increases from DA Davidson and Piper Sandler, while Weiss Ratings downgraded the stock to hold.
• The company reported Q1 earnings of $1.52 per share, topping estimates, and recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, equal to a 2.6% yield.

Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Buy" from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $80.50.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings cut Hancock Whitney from a "buy (b)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th.

Insider Transactions at Hancock Whitney

In other Hancock Whitney news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 417 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.16, for a total transaction of $28,005.72. Following the sale, the director directly owned 25,066 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,683,432.56. The trade was a 1.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.92% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Channing Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the 4th quarter valued at $80,246,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter worth $57,463,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 18,614.2% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 535,039 shares of the company's stock worth $34,071,000 after acquiring an additional 532,180 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 134.3% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 909,460 shares of the company's stock worth $56,941,000 after acquiring an additional 521,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH purchased a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the first quarter worth $23,071,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.22% of the company's stock.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

HWC opened at $77.29 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $6.27 billion, a PE ratio of 15.87 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.48. Hancock Whitney has a fifty-two week low of $54.05 and a fifty-two week high of $79.36.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.04. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.20% and a net margin of 21.34%.The company had revenue of $393.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $400.01 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.38 earnings per share. Hancock Whitney's revenue for the quarter was down 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Hancock Whitney will post 6.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Hancock Whitney's payout ratio is presently 41.07%.

Hancock Whitney Company Profile

Hancock Whitney Corporation NASDAQ: HWC is a regional financial services company headquartered in Gulfport, Mississippi. The firm was established in April 2019 through the merger of Hancock Holding Company and Whitney Holding Corporation, each of which traced its roots to the late 19th century. This combination created one of the largest bank holding companies in the Gulf South region, with a network of branches serving both urban and rural communities.

The company's core business activities include commercial banking, retail banking and wealth management services.

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