Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Upgraded to “Buy” at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $50.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $48.00.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Hancock Whitney from $51.00 to $45.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Raymond James lifted their target price on Hancock Whitney from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. StockNews.com downgraded Hancock Whitney from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Sunday, March 31st. Stephens reduced their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a buy rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $49.75.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

Shares of HWC stock opened at $42.66 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The business has a 50 day moving average of $43.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.43. Hancock Whitney has a 52 week low of $31.02 and a 52 week high of $49.65. The company has a market cap of $3.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.94 and a beta of 1.33.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 16th. The company reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.07. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 12.08% and a net margin of 19.07%. The company had revenue of $308.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $355.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Hancock Whitney will post 4.8 EPS for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 4th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hancock Whitney news, insider Christopher S. Ziluca sold 3,636 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total value of $158,166.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 35,285 shares in the company, valued at $1,534,897.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Hancock Whitney news, insider Joseph S. Exnicios sold 9,857 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.15, for a total value of $464,757.55. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,421,996.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Christopher S. Ziluca sold 3,636 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total value of $158,166.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 35,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,534,897.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,225 shares of company stock worth $1,634,014 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BTC Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney in the first quarter valued at $349,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Hancock Whitney by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,192,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $446,670,000 after purchasing an additional 95,432 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Hancock Whitney by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 101,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,938,000 after purchasing an additional 3,895 shares during the period. Spouting Rock Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Hancock Whitney by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Spouting Rock Asset Management LLC now owns 24,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,188,000 after purchasing an additional 3,346 shares during the period. Finally, Cim Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Hancock Whitney during the 4th quarter valued at $210,000. 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.