Hancock Whitney Corporation $HWC Shares Sold by UBS Group AG

UBS Group AG lessened its stake in Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 898,986 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,474 shares during the period. UBS Group AG’s holdings in Hancock Whitney were worth $57,247,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $530,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 25,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,586,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 67.6% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 627 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,052 shares of the company’s stock valued at $191,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HWC. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Hancock Whitney from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.86.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

Hancock Whitney stock opened at $67.44 on Wednesday. Hancock Whitney Corporation has a 12-month low of $52.89 and a 12-month high of $75.43. The company has a market capitalization of $5.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.85 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $65.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.53.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.04. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 21.34% and a return on equity of 11.20%. The firm had revenue of $393.64 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $400.01 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney Corporation will post 6.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is 41.07%.

Hancock Whitney 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.