Raymond James Reiterates Strong-Buy Rating for Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC)

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC)‘s stock had its “strong-buy” rating restated by investment analysts at Raymond James in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $72.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $64.00. Raymond James’ price target points to a potential upside of 21.19% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on HWC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson upped their target price on Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $74.00 price target (up from $68.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hancock Whitney currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.56.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

Shares of HWC stock opened at $59.41 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $57.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.77. Hancock Whitney has a 12-month low of $41.19 and a 12-month high of $62.40. The company has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a PE ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 1.27.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.12. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.66% and a net margin of 22.40%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. Analysts expect that Hancock Whitney will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hancock Whitney

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hancock Whitney

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Hancock Whitney in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Grove Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Hancock Whitney in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Hancock Whitney in the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Hancock Whitney in the 3rd quarter worth about $72,000. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,677 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.