John M. Hairston Sells 18,000 Shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Stock

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) CEO John M. Hairston sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total transaction of $1,069,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 254,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,099,305.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Hancock Whitney Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Hancock Whitney stock opened at $58.63 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Hancock Whitney Co. has a twelve month low of $36.70 and a twelve month high of $61.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.06 billion, a PE ratio of 13.15 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $51.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.55.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.02. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 19.30% and a return on equity of 11.47%. The firm had revenue of $525.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $363.54 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.12 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Hancock Whitney Co. will post 5.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.87%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hancock Whitney

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,226,780 shares of the company’s stock valued at $424,801,000 after acquiring an additional 34,152 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,980,204 shares of the company’s stock worth $238,197,000 after buying an additional 167,304 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Hancock Whitney by 20.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,401,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,015,000 after purchasing an additional 237,526 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp boosted its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 30.9% in the 2nd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 1,069,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,141,000 after buying an additional 252,473 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 20.9% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 780,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,350,000 after buying an additional 135,076 shares during the period. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on HWC. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Hovde Group increased their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hancock Whitney currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.89.

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.