Hancock Whitney Corporation $HWC Shares Sold by UBS Group AG

UBS Group AG lessened its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 898,986 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,474 shares during the quarter. UBS Group AG owned about 1.08% of Hancock Whitney worth $57,247,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 44.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 283,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,764,000 after buying an additional 87,227 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Hancock Whitney during the third quarter worth approximately $1,169,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Hancock Whitney by 26.2% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 348,993 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,850,000 after acquiring an additional 72,433 shares during the last quarter. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. acquired a new stake in Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,094,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Hancock Whitney by 126,754.3% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 457,944 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,671,000 after acquiring an additional 457,583 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on HWC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Friday, March 27th. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Zacks Research lowered shares of Hancock Whitney from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Hancock Whitney has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.86.

Hancock Whitney Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of HWC opened at $67.44 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.50 billion, a PE ratio of 13.85 and a beta of 0.97. The company’s fifty day moving average is $65.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.53. Hancock Whitney Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $52.89 and a fifty-two week high of $75.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $393.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $400.01 million. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 21.34% and a return on equity of 11.20%. Hancock Whitney’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. Analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney Corporation will post 6.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.07%.

Hancock Whitney Company Profile

Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ: HWC) is a regional financial services company headquartered in Gulfport, Mississippi. The firm was established in April 2019 through the merger of Hancock Holding Company and Whitney Holding Corporation, each of which traced its roots to the late 19th century. This combination created one of the largest bank holding companies in the Gulf South region, with a network of branches serving both urban and rural communities.

The company’s core business activities include commercial banking, retail banking and wealth management services.