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

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

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on HWC. Stephens decreased their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $51.00 to $45.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $50.71.

Hancock Whitney Trading Up 3.6 %

Shares of HWC stock opened at $44.27 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $43.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.32 and a beta of 1.33. Hancock Whitney has a twelve month low of $31.02 and a twelve month high of $49.65.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 16th. The company reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.07. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 19.07% and a return on equity of 11.89%. The firm had revenue of $308.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $355.51 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.65 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Hancock Whitney will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 4th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hancock Whitney news, insider Christopher S. Ziluca sold 3,636 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total transaction of $158,166.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 35,285 shares in the company, valued at $1,534,897.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Christopher S. Ziluca sold 3,636 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total transaction of $158,166.00. Following 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 can be accessed through this link. Also, COO D Shane Loper sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.81, for a total transaction of $828,068.90. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 71,148 shares in the company, valued at $3,330,437.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,183 shares of company stock worth $1,450,992 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hancock Whitney

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 136.8% in the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,011 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 584 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 81.0% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new position in Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 151.1% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hancock Whitney Company Profile

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.