Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Issues Earnings Results

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.12, Briefing.com reports. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 22.40% and a return on equity of 11.66%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

Shares of HWC opened at $59.72 on Thursday. Hancock Whitney has a 12-month low of $41.19 and a 12-month high of $62.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.31 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $57.32 and its 200-day moving average is $53.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on HWC shares. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up from $68.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $72.00 price target (up from $64.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.