State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Has $2.08 Million Stock Holdings in Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,644 shares of the company’s stock after selling 649 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Hancock Whitney were worth $2,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Hancock Whitney by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,226,780 shares of the company’s stock valued at $424,801,000 after purchasing an additional 34,152 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,980,204 shares of the company’s stock worth $238,197,000 after acquiring an additional 167,304 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Hancock Whitney by 20.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,401,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,015,000 after acquiring an additional 237,526 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp lifted its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 30.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 1,069,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,141,000 after purchasing an additional 252,473 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 20.9% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 780,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,350,000 after purchasing an additional 135,076 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HWC has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 20th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hancock Whitney presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.89.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HWC opened at $58.45 on Friday. Hancock Whitney Co. has a twelve month low of $39.38 and a twelve month high of $61.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.03 billion, a PE ratio of 13.11 and a beta of 1.25.

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

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is 35.87%.

Insider Transactions at Hancock Whitney

In other Hancock Whitney news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 763 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,343.20. This trade represents a 3.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Michael M. Achary sold 8,431 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.55, for a total transaction of $443,049.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 54,380 shares in the company, 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 three months, insiders have sold 27,994 shares of company stock worth $1,593,710. Insiders own 1.10% 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.