Sanctuary Advisors LLC Buys 227 Shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 20,358 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Hancock Whitney were worth $1,221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of HWC. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 692,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,429,000 after purchasing an additional 55,869 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP purchased a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney during the 3rd quarter valued at about $844,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 66.7% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 33,106 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,694,000 after buying an additional 13,243 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,605,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 551,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,227,000 after buying an additional 96,092 shares in the last quarter. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HWC. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up from $68.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com cut Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $72.00 price objective (up from $64.00) on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Hancock Whitney from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hancock Whitney has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.56.

Hancock Whitney Trading Up 0.4 %

Hancock Whitney stock opened at $56.31 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Hancock Whitney Co. has a one year low of $41.56 and a one year high of $62.40. The stock has a market cap of $4.85 billion, a PE ratio of 10.66 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $57.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.06.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.12. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.56% and a net margin of 22.40%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Hancock Whitney Co. will post 5.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This is a boost from Hancock Whitney’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is 34.09%.

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.