Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Receives “Overweight” Rating from Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler reissued their overweight rating on shares of Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) in a research note released on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Piper Sandler currently has a $70.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $68.00.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $68.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded Hancock Whitney from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $72.00 target price (up previously from $64.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.56.

Hancock Whitney Trading Down 0.3 %

HWC stock opened at $48.52 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.19 and a beta of 0.99. Hancock Whitney has a 52-week low of $42.39 and a 52-week high of $62.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.09.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.10. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 22.40% and a return on equity of 11.56%. The firm had revenue of $367.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $368.12 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney will post 5.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a $0.45 dividend. This is an increase from Hancock Whitney’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is currently 34.09%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HWC. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in Hancock Whitney during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $305,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 149.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 321,196 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,435,000 after acquiring an additional 192,295 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,149,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,016,000 after acquiring an additional 30,239 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 15.8% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 20,131 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 2,741 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Hancock Whitney by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 551,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,227,000 after purchasing an additional 96,092 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

About Hancock Whitney

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.