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

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Stephens in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $74.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $68.00. Stephens’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 24.56% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Raymond James raised Hancock Whitney from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price target on Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.56.

Hancock Whitney Stock Down 0.5 %

HWC stock opened at $59.41 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $57.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Hancock Whitney has a 1-year low of $41.19 and a 1-year high of $62.40. The stock has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 1.27.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.26 EPS. Analysts expect that Hancock Whitney will post 5.16 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hancock Whitney

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 55,869 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP bought a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney during the 3rd quarter valued at about $844,000. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 66.7% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 33,106 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,694,000 after purchasing an additional 13,243 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,605,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 551,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,227,000 after purchasing an additional 96,092 shares during the last quarter. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.