Hancock Whitney Co. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.40 (NASDAQ:HWC)

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 25th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Thursday, September 5th will be given a dividend of 0.40 per share on Monday, September 16th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 5th.

Hancock Whitney has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.6% annually over the last three years. Hancock Whitney has a payout ratio of 30.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Hancock Whitney to earn $5.13 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.2%.

Hancock Whitney Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of HWC opened at $57.12 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $4.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.31 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $47.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.83. Hancock Whitney has a 52-week low of $32.16 and a 52-week high of $57.78.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.11. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.51% and a net margin of 18.63%. The business had revenue of $359.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $359.11 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Hancock Whitney will post 5.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Hancock Whitney

In other Hancock Whitney news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 1,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.62, for a total transaction of $59,306.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,982 shares in the company, valued at $1,094,058.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Hancock Whitney news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.62, for a total value of $59,306.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,094,058.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Cecil W. Knight, Jr. sold 844 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.82, for a total transaction of $39,516.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 58,843 shares in the company, valued at $2,755,029.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Hancock Whitney from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Hancock Whitney from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hancock Whitney has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.78.

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.