Grove Bank & Trust Buys Shares of 559 Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC)

Grove Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney during the third quarter valued at $28,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney during the third quarter valued at $72,000. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 170.3% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,000 after acquiring an additional 1,677 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 30.7% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 2,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $150,000 after acquiring an additional 691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 19.1% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,971 shares of the company’s stock valued at $142,000 after acquiring an additional 476 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 763 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 3.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 254,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,099,305.44. The trade was a 6.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hancock Whitney Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HWC opened at $59.10 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $57.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.54. Hancock Whitney Co. has a 1-year low of $41.19 and a 1-year high of $62.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.25 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on HWC. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $68.00 price target on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Raymond James raised shares of Hancock Whitney from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.63.

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.