Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Receives Overweight Rating from Stephens

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating restated by Stephens in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $74.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $68.00. Stephens’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 24.56% from the stock’s previous close.

HWC has been the subject of several other research reports. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded Hancock Whitney from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.56.

Hancock Whitney Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of HWC stock opened at $59.41 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.11 billion, a PE ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 1.27. Hancock Whitney has a 1-year low of $41.19 and a 1-year high of $62.40. The business has a 50-day moving average of $57.32 and a 200 day moving average of $53.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.12. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.66% and a net margin of 22.40%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hancock Whitney will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Hancock Whitney

In related news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 763 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.40, for a total transaction of $39,981.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,232,343.20. This trade represents a 3.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO John M. Hairston sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total value of $1,069,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 254,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,099,305.44. This trade represents a 6.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 12,845 shares of the company’s stock worth $703,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. DMC Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. DMC Group LLC now owns 8,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $483,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,000 after purchasing an additional 422 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EMC Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 6,019 shares of the company’s stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. 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.