Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Price Target Raised to $80.00

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) had its price target upped by analysts at Piper Sandler from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 17.57% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Hancock Whitney in a report on Friday, March 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Hancock Whitney from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Hancock Whitney from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $76.86.

Hancock Whitney Trading Down 0.6%

HWC stock opened at $68.05 on Wednesday. Hancock Whitney has a one year low of $50.40 and a one year high of $75.43. The stock has a market cap of $5.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $65.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.04. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.16% and a net margin of 24.05%.The company had revenue of $393.64 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $400.01 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Hancock Whitney will post 6.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Christopher S. Ziluca sold 5,227 shares of Hancock Whitney stock in a transaction on Friday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.57, for a total transaction of $358,415.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 33,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,283,449.57. This trade represents a 13.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.92% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Hancock Whitney by 44.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 283,722 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,764,000 after buying an additional 87,227 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the 3rd quarter worth $1,169,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 26.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 348,993 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,850,000 after acquiring an additional 72,433 shares during the last quarter. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. purchased a new position in Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter worth $1,094,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in Hancock Whitney by 126,754.3% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 457,944 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,671,000 after acquiring an additional 457,583 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Hancock Whitney Company Profile

Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ: HWC) is a regional financial services company headquartered in Gulfport, Mississippi. The firm was established in April 2019 through the merger of Hancock Holding Company and Whitney Holding Corporation, each of which traced its roots to the late 19th century. This combination created one of the largest bank holding companies in the Gulf South region, with a network of branches serving both urban and rural communities.

The company’s core business activities include commercial banking, retail banking and wealth management services.