Entropy Technologies LP Takes $472,000 Position in Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC)

Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 9,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $472,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in Hancock Whitney during the third quarter valued at $844,000. Wolverine Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 20.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC now owns 31,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,621,000 after buying an additional 5,441 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Hancock Whitney by 179.7% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 26,332 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,347,000 after acquiring an additional 16,916 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments bought a new position in Hancock Whitney in the third quarter worth about $1,445,000. Finally, Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Hancock Whitney in the third quarter valued at approximately $669,000. 81.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on HWC. DA Davidson raised their target price on Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.89.

Hancock Whitney Price Performance

NASDAQ HWC opened at $58.45 on Friday. Hancock Whitney Co. has a 1 year low of $39.38 and a 1 year high of $61.41. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $52.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.10. The company has a market cap of $5.03 billion, a PE ratio of 13.11 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.02. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 19.30% and a return on equity of 11.47%. The business had revenue of $525.37 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.54 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.12 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Hancock Whitney Co. will post 5.2 EPS for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.74%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.87%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO John M. Hairston sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total transaction of $1,069,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 254,026 shares in the company, valued at $15,099,305.44. The trade was a 6.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Michael M. Achary sold 8,431 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.55, for a total value of $443,049.05. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 54,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,857,669. This represents a 13.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 27,994 shares of company stock worth $1,593,710. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.