Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.12 EPS

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) released its earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.12, Briefing.com reports. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 19.30% and a return on equity of 11.47%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.26 EPS.

Hancock Whitney Trading Up 2.8 %

HWC opened at $60.74 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Hancock Whitney has a 52 week low of $41.19 and a 52 week high of $62.40. The business’s 50 day moving average is $57.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.62. The firm has a market cap of $5.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.62 and a beta of 1.27.

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 given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.87%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO John M. Hairston sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total transaction of $1,069,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 254,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,099,305.44. This trade represents a 6.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 763 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.40, for a total value of $39,981.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,518 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,343.20. The trade was a 3.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HWC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Raymond James raised Hancock Whitney from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $68.00 price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.63.

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.