Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) to Issue $0.50 Quarterly Dividend

Key Points

• Hancock Whitney announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share (annualized $2.00), payable June 15 to shareholders of record June 5, reflecting a roughly 3.0% yield.
• In Q1 the bank reported EPS of $1.52, beating consensus by $0.04, but revenue fell 19.7% year-over-year to $393.6 million.
• Analysts remain generally positive with a MarketBeat consensus of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $76.86, while the stock trades near $67.29 with a P/E around 13.8.

Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share on Monday, June 15th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th.

Hancock Whitney has increased its dividend by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 3 years. Hancock Whitney has a payout ratio of 34.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Hancock Whitney to earn $6.71 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.8%.

Hancock Whitney Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:HWC traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $67.29. The company had a trading volume of 30,182 shares, compared to its average volume of 852,082. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $65.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.43. The company has a market capitalization of $5.49 billion, a PE ratio of 13.82 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Hancock Whitney has a one year low of $52.06 and a one year high of $75.43.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.04. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 21.34% and a return on equity of 11.20%. The business had revenue of $393.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $400.01 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. Hancock Whitney's revenue was down 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney will post 6.28 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on HWC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Hancock Whitney from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on Hancock Whitney from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Hancock Whitney from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Zacks Research cut Hancock Whitney from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Hancock Whitney from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $76.86.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.