Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Shares Bought by Boston Partners

Boston Partners raised its stake in Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) by 0.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 624,417 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,313 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners owned approximately 0.72% of Hancock Whitney worth $28,811,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Hancock Whitney by 22.1% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 59,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,746,000 after purchasing an additional 10,810 shares during the last quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. acquired a new position in Hancock Whitney in the first quarter valued at $921,000. Interval Partners LP increased its stake in Hancock Whitney by 25.4% in the first quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 193,541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,911,000 after purchasing an additional 39,180 shares during the last quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. increased its stake in Hancock Whitney by 60.6% in the first quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. now owns 357,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,454,000 after purchasing an additional 134,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP increased its stake in Hancock Whitney by 121.3% in the first quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 10,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $483,000 after purchasing an additional 5,746 shares during the last quarter. 81.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HWC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Hancock Whitney from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Truist Financial upped their target price on Hancock Whitney from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Hancock Whitney from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hancock Whitney has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.78.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

Shares of Hancock Whitney stock traded down $1.94 on Friday, reaching $50.00. 871,319 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 672,663. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company’s 50-day moving average is $48.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.09. The firm has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.66 and a beta of 1.29. Hancock Whitney Co. has a 1-year low of $32.16 and a 1-year high of $57.78.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.11. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.51% and a net margin of 18.63%. The firm had revenue of $359.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $359.11 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Hancock Whitney Co. will post 5.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 5th. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is currently 37.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hancock Whitney

In other Hancock Whitney news, Director Frank E. Bertucci sold 2,053 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total transaction of $117,082.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,554 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,286,254.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.