Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Sells 580 Shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 25,752 shares of the company’s stock after selling 580 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Hancock Whitney were worth $1,409,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wolverine Asset Management LLC grew its position in Hancock Whitney by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC now owns 38,032 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,081,000 after buying an additional 6,345 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Hancock Whitney during the fourth quarter valued at about $209,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 27,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,499,000 after purchasing an additional 526 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 20,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,221,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 297,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,261,000 after purchasing an additional 3,706 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on HWC. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up from $68.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $72.00 price target (up from $64.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.56.

Hancock Whitney Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Hancock Whitney stock opened at $57.13 on Friday. Hancock Whitney Co. has a 1 year low of $41.56 and a 1 year high of $62.40. The firm has a market cap of $4.92 billion, a PE ratio of 10.82 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.14.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last announced 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 net margin of 22.40% and a return on equity of 11.56%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.26 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Hancock Whitney Co. will post 5.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This is a positive change from Hancock Whitney’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is presently 34.09%.

Hancock Whitney 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.