Stephens Cuts Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Price Target to $85.00

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) had its price target trimmed by Stephens from $86.00 to $85.00 in a research note published on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on HWC. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $87.00 price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen lowered Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Benchmark started coverage on Hancock Whitney in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $84.00 target price on the stock. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on Hancock Whitney from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hancock Whitney presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.56.

Hancock Whitney Stock Up 0.7%

HWC stock opened at $76.20 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $6.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.94 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.80. The business’s 50-day moving average is $72.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.79. Hancock Whitney has a fifty-two week low of $54.05 and a fifty-two week high of $79.36.

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

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Hancock Whitney

In other news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 417 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.16, for a total value of $28,005.72. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.92% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter worth about $6,070,000. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Hancock Whitney during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $576,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Hancock Whitney by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,790,954 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,652,000 after purchasing an additional 21,655 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Hancock Whitney in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,520,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Hancock Whitney in the 4th quarter worth approximately $57,463,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

About Hancock Whitney

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.