Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Grows Position in Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,898,504 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,172 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Hancock Whitney were worth $102,557,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of HWC. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Grove Bank & Trust bought a new position in Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney in the 3rd quarter valued at about $72,000. Finally, CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 170.3% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,000 after buying an additional 1,677 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on HWC. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $74.00 target price (up previously from $68.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com lowered Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $72.00 price target (up from $64.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.56.

Hancock Whitney Price Performance

NASDAQ HWC opened at $59.10 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $5.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $57.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.52. Hancock Whitney Co. has a 1 year low of $41.43 and a 1 year high of $62.40.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.12. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.56% and a net margin of 22.40%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.26 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney Co. will post 5.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This is a positive change from Hancock Whitney’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.05%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.30%.

Hancock Whitney Profile

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.