48,601 Shares in Hancock Whitney Corporation $HWC Acquired by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 48,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,790,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al owned 0.06% of Hancock Whitney at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Virtus Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney during the 1st quarter worth approximately $41,000. Amundi bought a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney during the 1st quarter worth approximately $50,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 115.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 664 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 341 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on HWC. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Hancock Whitney in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Hancock Whitney from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Citigroup raised their price target on Hancock Whitney from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Hancock Whitney from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Hancock Whitney from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $62.00 to $63.00 in a report on Friday, July 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.86.

Insider Activity at Hancock Whitney

In other news, CFO Michael M. Achary sold 9,894 shares of Hancock Whitney stock in a transaction on Friday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.86, for a total value of $542,784.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 55,733 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,057,512.38. This trade represents a 15.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.91% of the company’s stock.

Hancock Whitney Trading Up 0.3%

HWC stock opened at $56.74 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $61.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.66. Hancock Whitney Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $43.90 and a fifty-two week high of $64.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.15 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $0.03 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $391.32 million. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.29% and a net margin of 23.99%.During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.33 EPS. Analysts expect that Hancock Whitney Corporation will post 5.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.20%.

Hancock Whitney Company Profile

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.