Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Benchmark

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) was upgraded by research analysts at Benchmark to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on HWC. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Hancock Whitney from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research lowered Hancock Whitney from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. DA Davidson increased their target price on Hancock Whitney from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Hovde Group lowered Hancock Whitney from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $74.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.25.

Hancock Whitney Price Performance

Hancock Whitney stock opened at $74.26 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $68.48 and a 200-day moving average of $67.23. Hancock Whitney has a 52-week low of $54.05 and a 52-week high of $75.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.25 and a beta of 0.95.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $393.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $400.01 million. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 21.34% and a return on equity of 11.20%. Hancock Whitney’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Hancock Whitney will post 6.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Hancock Whitney

In related news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 417 shares of the firm’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 value of $28,005.72. Following the sale, the director directly owned 25,066 shares in the company, valued at $1,683,432.56. This trade represents a 1.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.92% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HWC. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the first quarter valued at about $200,000. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Hancock Whitney by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 86,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,522,000 after buying an additional 520 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Hancock Whitney by 16.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 807,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,354,000 after buying an additional 114,029 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney during the 1st quarter worth about $8,456,000. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 134.8% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 11,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $731,000 after buying an additional 6,597 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.