Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Short Interest Update

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,670,000 shares, a growth of 8.5% from the January 15th total of 2,460,000 shares. Currently, 3.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 584,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.6 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up from $68.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $72.00 target price (up from $64.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com cut Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.56.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

Shares of Hancock Whitney stock opened at $59.93 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.16 billion, a PE ratio of 11.35 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Hancock Whitney has a 12 month low of $41.56 and a 12 month high of $62.40.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.12. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.56% and a net margin of 22.40%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.26 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hancock Whitney will post 5.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. This is a positive change from Hancock Whitney’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.30%.

Institutional Trading of Hancock Whitney

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HWC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter worth $54,605,000. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter worth $24,775,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter valued at about $13,796,000. Foundry Partners LLC bought a new position in Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter valued at about $12,937,000. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 69.5% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 544,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,795,000 after buying an additional 223,275 shares in the last quarter. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.