Bailard Inc. Sells 6,500 Shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC)

Bailard Inc. cut its holdings in Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) by 44.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,200 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,500 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Hancock Whitney were worth $449,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,297,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $219,917,000 after purchasing an additional 73,316 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,149,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,016,000 after purchasing an additional 30,239 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,898,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,557,000 after purchasing an additional 12,172 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Hancock Whitney by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,154,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,093,000 after buying an additional 46,622 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 692,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,429,000 after buying an additional 55,869 shares during the period. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on HWC shares. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $72.00 price target (up previously from $64.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $74.00 target price (up previously from $68.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Hancock Whitney from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.56.

Hancock Whitney Price Performance

NASDAQ:HWC opened at $54.49 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.32 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.32. Hancock Whitney Co. has a 1 year low of $41.56 and a 1 year high of $62.40.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last posted 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 net margin of 22.40% and a return on equity of 11.56%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.26 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney Co. will post 5.53 EPS for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. This is an increase from Hancock Whitney’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.09%.

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.