Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Stock Rating Upgraded by Hovde Group

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) was upgraded by stock analysts at Hovde Group to a “hold” rating in a report released on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on HWC. Wall Street Zen cut Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Hancock Whitney from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Hancock Whitney from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hancock Whitney currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.43.

Hancock Whitney Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of HWC opened at $72.50 on Friday. Hancock Whitney has a 12 month low of $52.93 and a 12 month high of $75.43. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $67.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market cap of $5.88 billion, a PE ratio of 14.89 and a beta of 0.95.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $393.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $400.01 million. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.20% and a net margin of 21.34%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.38 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney will post 6.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hancock Whitney news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 417 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.16, for a total transaction of $28,005.72. Following the sale, the director owned 25,066 shares in the company, valued at $1,683,432.56. This represents a 1.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.92% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amundi acquired a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $50,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 51,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,710,000 after purchasing an additional 2,255 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 22.9% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,755 shares of the company’s stock worth $197,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Hancock Whitney by 4.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 287,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,078,000 after purchasing an additional 11,551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in Hancock Whitney by 951.9% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 123,812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,494,000 after purchasing an additional 112,042 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

About Hancock Whitney

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.