Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Price Target Raised to $80.00

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) had its target price raised by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on HWC. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $87.00 target price on shares of Hancock Whitney in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Hancock Whitney from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Barclays raised their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $87.00 target price on shares of Hancock Whitney in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.56.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

Shares of HWC stock opened at $76.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $6.18 billion, a PE ratio of 14.94 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $72.04 and a 200-day moving average of $68.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Hancock Whitney has a one year low of $54.05 and a one year high of $79.36.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.55. The business had revenue of $403.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $398.89 million. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 21.81% and a return on equity of 11.36%. Hancock Whitney’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Hancock Whitney will post 6.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is 41.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hancock Whitney

In other news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 417 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.16, for a total transaction of $28,005.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 25,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,683,432.56. This represents a 1.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.92% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hancock Whitney

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Hancock Whitney by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney in the first quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 0.6% in the first quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 86,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,522,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 16.4% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 807,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,354,000 after purchasing an additional 114,029 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in Hancock Whitney during the first quarter worth $8,456,000. Institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

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.