Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.40 Per Share

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.40 per share on Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Hancock Whitney’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30.

Hancock Whitney has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.6% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 1 consecutive years. Hancock Whitney has a dividend payout ratio of 23.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Hancock Whitney to earn $5.00 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.0%.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HWC traded up $0.56 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $46.74. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 666,278 shares, compared to its average volume of 512,407. Hancock Whitney has a fifty-two week low of $31.02 and a fifty-two week high of $49.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.90 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.88.

Insider Transactions at Hancock Whitney

In other news, insider Christopher S. Ziluca sold 3,636 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider now owns 35,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,534,897.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HWC has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James increased their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $50.00 to $46.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 31st. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $51.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Citigroup raised Hancock Whitney from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hancock Whitney currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.71.

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.