Hancock Whitney (HWC) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Hancock Whitney is a bank holding company headquartered in Gulfport, Mississippi, whose principal subsidiary is Hancock Whitney Bank. The company provides personal and business banking services, including deposit accounts, loans, treasury management, mortgage lending, and online and mobile banking. It also offers wealth management, trust, and investment services.

The bank serves customers across the Gulf South, with operations in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, and Texas. Its history includes roots in Hancock County Bank, founded in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, in 1899, and Whitney National Bank, established in New Orleans in 1883. Hancock Holding Company acquired Whitney Holding Corporation in 2011 and adopted the Hancock Whitney name in 2018.

John M. Hairston is Hancock Whitney’s president and chief executive officer. Through its regional branch network and digital channels, the company serves individuals, businesses, and institutions throughout its markets.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $72.07 to $73.88
• 50-Day Range: $71.41 to $75.93
• 52-Week Range: $55.76 to $80.13
• Volume: 1.04 million shs
• Average Volume: 860,505 shs
• Market Capitalization: $5.88 billion
• P/E Ratio: 14.74
• Dividend Yield: 2.73%
• Price Target: $84.56
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Hancock Whitney Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Hancock Whitney scored higher than 87% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 185th out of 843 stocks in the finance sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.6 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Hancock Whitney has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.82, and is based on 1 strong buy rating, 7 buy ratings, 3 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Upside Potential

Hancock Whitney has a consensus price target of $84.56, representing about 15.4% upside from its current price of $73.28.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Hancock Whitney has been the subject of 6 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 11.99%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Hancock Whitney are expected to grow by 11.99% in the coming year, from $6.42 to $7.19 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Hancock Whitney is 14.74, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 26.56.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Hancock Whitney is 14.74, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 21.36.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Hancock Whitney has a P/B Ratio of 1.37. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 1.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

8.09% of the float of Hancock Whitney has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Hancock Whitney has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 8.02.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Hancock Whitney has recently increased by 2.42%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing.

Dividend

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Moderate

Dividend Yield

Hancock Whitney pays a meaningful dividend of 2.80%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Hancock Whitney has only been increasing its dividend for 3 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Hancock Whitney is 40.24%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Hancock Whitney will have a dividend payout ratio of 27.82% next year. This indicates that Hancock Whitney will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.5 / 5
• News Sentiment: N/A

News Sentiment

Hancock Whitney has a news sentiment score of 1.58. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.57 average news sentiment score of Finance companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 1 news article for Hancock Whitney this week, compared to 4 articles on an average week.

MarketBeat Follows

1 people have added Hancock Whitney to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Hancock Whitney insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $381,236.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

0.92% of the stock of Hancock Whitney is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

81.22% of the stock of Hancock Whitney is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Record date for 9/15 Dividend: 9/04/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 9/15 Dividend: 9/04/2026
• Dividend Payable: 9/15/2026
• Last Earnings: 10/20/2026
• Today: 11/09/2026
• Record date for 12/15 Dividend: 12/04/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 12/15 Dividend: 12/04/2026
• Dividend Payable: 12/15/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 1/19/2027

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Finance
• Industry: Banks
• Sub-Industry: Regional Banks
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:HWC
• CIK: 750577
• Web: www.hancockwhitney.com
• Phone: (504) 299-5208
• Fax: 228-868-4627
• Employees: 3,627
• Year Founded: 1899

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Hancock Whitney: $84.56
• High Price Target: $91.00
• Low Price Target: $74.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +15.4%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.82
• Research Coverage: 11 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $4.97
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 14.74
• Forward P/E Ratio: 10.19
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $486.07 million
• Net Margins: 20.51%
• Pretax Margin: 26.08%
• Return on Equity: 11.65%
• Return on Assets: 1.40%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.05
• Current Ratio: 0.80
• Quick Ratio: 0.80

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $1.50 billion
• Price / Sales: 3.91
• Cash Flow: $6.63 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 11.05
• Book Value: $53.34 per share
• Price / Book: 1.37

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 80,223,000
• Free Float: 79,485,000
• Market Cap: $5.88 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.98