Stephens Reiterates Overweight Rating for Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC)

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Stephens in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $74.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $68.00. Stephens’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 23.71% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on HWC. Raymond James upgraded Hancock Whitney from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.38.

Hancock Whitney Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of HWC traded down $0.92 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $59.82. The company had a trading volume of 411,994 shares, compared to its average volume of 670,907. The firm has a market cap of $5.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.39 and a beta of 1.27. Hancock Whitney has a 52-week low of $41.19 and a 52-week high of $62.40. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $57.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.12. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.47% and a net margin of 19.30%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.26 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Hancock Whitney will post 5.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Hancock Whitney

In related news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 763 shares of Hancock Whitney stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.40, for a total transaction of $39,981.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,518 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,343.20. The trade was a 3.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO John M. Hairston sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total value of $1,069,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 254,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,099,305.44. The trade was a 6.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HWC. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in Hancock Whitney in the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in Hancock Whitney in the 3rd quarter valued at $72,000. CWM LLC grew its stake in Hancock Whitney by 170.3% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,000 after acquiring an additional 1,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 19.1% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,971 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

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.