Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) Forecasted to Earn FY2024 Earnings of $4.95 Per Share

Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) – Analysts at DA Davidson lifted their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Hancock Whitney in a research report issued on Wednesday, April 17th. DA Davidson analyst G. Tenner now anticipates that the company will post earnings of $4.95 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $4.90. DA Davidson currently has a “Buy” rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Hancock Whitney’s current full-year earnings is $4.82 per share. DA Davidson also issued estimates for Hancock Whitney’s FY2025 earnings at $5.21 EPS.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 16th. The company reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $308.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $355.51 million. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.89% and a net margin of 19.07%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. StockNews.com cut Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 31st. Citigroup raised Hancock Whitney from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James raised their target price on Hancock Whitney from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $52.00 target price (down from $55.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.71.

Hancock Whitney Stock Up 3.6 %

HWC opened at $44.27 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.32 and a beta of 1.33. Hancock Whitney has a 12 month low of $31.02 and a 12 month high of $49.65. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $43.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.49.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hancock Whitney

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 0.4% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 12,107,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $464,688,000 after purchasing an additional 42,241 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,192,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $446,670,000 after purchasing an additional 95,432 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,749,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,786,000 after acquiring an additional 249,944 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,567,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $238,218,000 after acquiring an additional 596,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 4,264,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $189,030,000 after acquiring an additional 21,842 shares during the last quarter. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hancock Whitney

In other Hancock Whitney news, COO D Shane Loper sold 17,690 shares of Hancock Whitney stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.81, for a total transaction of $828,068.90. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 71,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,330,437.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, COO D Shane Loper sold 17,690 shares of Hancock Whitney stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.81, for a total transaction of $828,068.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 71,148 shares in the company, valued at $3,330,437.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher S. Ziluca sold 3,636 shares of Hancock Whitney stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total transaction of $158,166.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 35,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,534,897.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 31,183 shares of company stock valued at $1,450,992. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 4th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is 27.97%.

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.