Moody National Bank Trust Division Boosts Stock Position in Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC)

Moody National Bank Trust Division raised its position in shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) by 8.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,764 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,334 shares during the period. Moody National Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Hancock Whitney were worth $972,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of HWC. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Hancock Whitney by 213.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 735,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,663,000 after acquiring an additional 501,259 shares during the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 30.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 1,069,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,141,000 after purchasing an additional 252,473 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 20.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,401,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,015,000 after purchasing an additional 237,526 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Hancock Whitney by 149.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 321,196 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,435,000 after buying an additional 192,295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Hancock Whitney by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,980,204 shares of the company’s stock valued at $238,197,000 after buying an additional 167,304 shares in the last quarter. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HWC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James raised Hancock Whitney from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $68.00 price target on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Hancock Whitney currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hancock Whitney news, Director Carleton Richard Wilkins sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.95, for a total value of $40,760.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $810,105. This trade represents a 4.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John M. Hairston sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total value of $1,069,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 254,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,099,305.44. The trade was a 6.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 27,994 shares of company stock valued at $1,593,710. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

NASDAQ HWC opened at $55.47 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.44 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.82. Hancock Whitney Co. has a fifty-two week low of $41.19 and a fifty-two week high of $62.40.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.02. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.47% and a net margin of 19.30%. The company had revenue of $525.37 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $363.54 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney Co. will post 5.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.87%.

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.