Hancock Whitney (HWC) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. The company also provides commercial and industrial loans including real and non-real estate loans; construction and land development loans; and residential mortgages, as well as consumer loans. In addition, it offers commercial finance products to middle market and corporate clients, including leases and related structures; facilitates investments in new market tax credit activities and holding certain foreclosed assets; provides customers access to fixed annuity and life insurance products; and underwriting transactions products, as well as debt and mortgage-related securities. The company was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Gulfport, Mississippi.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $52.06 to $54.28
• 50-Day Range: $46.05 to $57.13
• 52-Week Range: $43.60 to $62.40
• Volume: 424,967 shs
• Average Volume: 585,068 shs
• Market Capitalization: $4.66 billion
• P/E Ratio: 10.24
• Dividend Yield: 3.33%
• Price Target: $60.56
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Hancock Whitney Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Hancock Whitney scored higher than 95% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 158th out of 949 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: 3.4 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Hancock Whitney has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.89, and is based on 6 buy ratings, 2 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Hancock Whitney has been the subject of 5 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 2.53%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Hancock Whitney are expected to grow by 2.53% in the coming year, from $5.53 to $5.67 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Hancock Whitney is 10.24, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 21.97.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Hancock Whitney is 10.24, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 22.27.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Hancock Whitney has a P/B Ratio of 1.13. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

4.06% 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 4.6.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Hancock Whitney has recently increased by 18.97%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Moderate

Dividend Yield

Hancock Whitney pays a meaningful dividend of 3.46%, 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 33.21%. 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 31.75% next year. This indicates that Hancock Whitney will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 3.4 / 5
• Environmental Score: -0.47

Percentage of Shares Shorted

4.06% 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 4.6.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Hancock Whitney has recently increased by 18.97%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.6 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.51

News Sentiment

Hancock Whitney has a news sentiment score of 1.51. 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 0.80 average news sentiment score of Finance companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 7 news articles for Hancock Whitney this week, compared to 6 articles on an average week.

MarketBeat Follows

3 people have added Hancock Whitney to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 200% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 2.5 / 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 $40,299.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 0.91% 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.

HWC Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have HWC shares performed this year?

Hancock Whitney's stock was trading at $54.72 at the beginning of 2025. Since then, HWC stock has decreased by 1.2% and is now trading at $54.08.
View the best growth stocks for 2025 here.

How were Hancock Whitney's earnings last quarter?

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April, 15th. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.10. The firm earned $367.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $368.12 million. Hancock Whitney had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 11.56% and a net margin of 22.40%.
Read the conference call transcript.

Who are Hancock Whitney's major shareholders?

Hancock Whitney's top institutional investors include Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC (2.35%), Bank of New York Mellon Corp (0.97%), Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA (0.95%) and Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC (0.82%). Insiders that own company stock include John M Hairston, D Shane Loper, Cecil W Knight Jr, Michael M Achary, Christopher S Ziluca, Joseph S Exnicios, Christine L Pickering, Frank E Bertucci, Carleton Richard Wilkins, Joan Cahill Teofilo, Sonia Perez and Harry Merritt Lane III.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Hancock Whitney?

Shares of HWC stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of Hancock Whitney own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Hancock Whitney investors own include NVIDIA (NVDA), Meta Platforms (META), Broadcom (AVGO), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Adobe (ADBE), ServiceNow (NOW) and Netflix (NFLX).

Company Calendar

• Record date for 3/17 Dividend: 3/05/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 3/17 Dividend: 3/05/2025
• Dividend Payable: 3/17/2025
• Last Earnings: 4/15/2025
• Today: 5/04/2025
• Record date for 6/16 Dividend: 6/05/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 6/16 Dividend: 6/05/2025
• Dividend Payable: 6/16/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 7/15/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Finance
• Industry: State commercial banks
• Sub-Industry: Banking
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:HWC
• CIK: 750577
• Web: www.hancockwhitney.com
• Phone: (228) 868-4000
• Fax: 228-868-4627
• Employees: 3,630
• Year Founded: N/A

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $60.56
• High Stock Price Target: $70.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $47.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +12.0%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.89
• Research Coverage: 9 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $5.42
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 10.24
• Forward P/E Ratio: 9.78
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $460.82 million
• Net Margins: 22.40%
• Pretax Margin: 27.90%
• Return on Equity: 11.56%
• Return on Assets: 1.32%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.05
• Current Ratio: 0.79
• Quick Ratio: 0.79

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $1.45 billion
• Price / Sales: 3.21
• Cash Flow: $5.13 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 10.55
• Book Value: $47.96 per share
• Price / Book: 1.13

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 86,128,000
• Free Float: 85,113,000
• Market Cap: $4.66 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.99