Princeton Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 4,500 Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC)

Princeton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $246,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in HWC. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its stake in Hancock Whitney by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 727,973 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,835,000 after buying an additional 35,586 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 63,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,687,000 after acquiring an additional 4,219 shares during the period. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP now owns 10,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $582,000 after acquiring an additional 1,179 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,097,563 shares of the company’s stock valued at $552,539,000 after purchasing an additional 181,706 shares during the period. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter worth approximately $930,000. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hancock Whitney Stock Up 3.7 %

Shares of Hancock Whitney stock opened at $54.26 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.28 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $56.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.30. Hancock Whitney Co. has a 52-week low of $41.56 and a 52-week high of $62.40.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $1.26 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Hancock Whitney Co. will post 5.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. 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 3.32%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up from $68.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $72.00 target price (up previously from $64.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Hancock Whitney from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Hancock Whitney has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.56.

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.