Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Price Target Raised to $72.00

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) had its price objective boosted by Piper Sandler from $70.00 to $72.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $62.00 target price (down previously from $72.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Hancock Whitney from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Hovde Group raised their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stephens lowered their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price target on Hancock Whitney from $69.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.71.

Hancock Whitney Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of Hancock Whitney stock opened at $60.21 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $56.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.18. The company has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.09 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Hancock Whitney has a 1 year low of $43.90 and a 1 year high of $62.40.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.01. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.21% and a net margin of 23.28%. The company had revenue of $377.98 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $375.99 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Hancock Whitney will post 5.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th were issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is 33.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hancock Whitney news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 838 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.09, for a total transaction of $40,299.42. Following the transaction, the director owned 23,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,106,983.71. This trade represents a 3.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.91% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hancock Whitney

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HWC. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Hancock Whitney by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 199,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,882 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Hancock Whitney by 5.1% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,016 shares of the company’s stock valued at $525,000 after buying an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter worth approximately $624,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney in the first quarter worth $281,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 6.8% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,027,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,139,000 after acquiring an additional 128,860 shares in the last quarter. 81.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.