Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Buys 46,622 Shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC) by 4.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,154,835 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 46,622 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Hancock Whitney were worth $59,093,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 22.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 59,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,746,000 after acquiring an additional 10,810 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Hancock Whitney by 0.5% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 624,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,811,000 after buying an additional 3,313 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 268.9% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 985 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Hancock Whitney by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $520,000 after buying an additional 568 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $57.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.89.

Hancock Whitney Price Performance

HWC stock opened at $59.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.82. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.91. The company has a market capitalization of $5.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.31 and a beta of 1.25. Hancock Whitney Co. has a 52-week low of $40.79 and a 52-week high of $62.40.

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

Hancock Whitney Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is 35.87%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Michael M. Achary sold 8,431 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.55, for a total transaction of $443,049.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 54,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,857,669. This trade represents a 13.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Carleton Richard Wilkins sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.95, for a total transaction of $40,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,900 shares in the company, valued at $810,105. This trade represents a 4.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,994 shares of company stock worth $1,593,710 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hancock Whitney 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.