Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC – Free Report) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 6,932 shares of the company’s stock, worth approximately $319,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also made changes to their positions in HWC. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its shares in Hancock Whitney by 0.3% in the first quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 108,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,981,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its shares in Hancock Whitney by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its shares in Hancock Whitney by 2.4% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 21,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $973,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Hancock Whitney by 2.5% in the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 24,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,142,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. 81.22% of the shares are held by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street analysts weigh in

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Hancock Whitney from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial raised their price target on Hancock Whitney from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup raised their price target on Hancock Whitney from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Hancock Whitney from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised Hancock Whitney from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.78.

Read our latest stock report on HWC

Hancock Whitney shares rise 0.8%

Hancock Whitney shares opened Friday at $53.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market cap of $4.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.50 and a beta of 1.29. Hancock Whitney Co. has a one-year low of $32.16 and a one-year high of $56.81. The company has a fifty-day moving average price of $47.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.52.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, which topped analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.11. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.51% and a net margin of 18.63%. The company had revenue of $359.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $359.11 million. During the same quarter a year ago, the company reported $1.35 EPS. The company’s revenue increased 0.7% from the same quarter a year ago. Equities research analysts predict that Hancock Whitney Co. will report 5.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Raises Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 5th. This represents an annualized dividend of $1.60 and a yield of 2.98%. This is a boost from Hancock Whitney’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is currently 37.30%.

Insiders place their bets

In other Hancock Whitney news, insider Cecil W. Knight, Jr. sold 844 shares of Hancock Whitney stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.82, for a total transaction of $39,516.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 58,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,755,029.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Cecil W. Knight, Jr. sold 844 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.82, for a total transaction value of $39,516.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 58,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,755,029.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed at this link. Also, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.62, for a total value of $59,306.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the Director now directly owns 23,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,094,058.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the shares are currently held by insiders.

About Hancock Whitney

(Free Report)

Hancock Whitney Corporation is the financial holding company for Hancock Whitney Bank, which provides traditional and online banking services to commercial, small business, and individual customers. It offers a variety of transaction and savings deposit products consisting of brokered deposits, time deposits, and money market accounts; treasury management services; secured and unsecured lending products, including revolving credit facilities and letters of credit and similar financial guarantees; and trust and investment management services to pension plans, corporations, and individuals, and investment advisory and brokerage products.

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Want to know which other hedge funds own HWC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com for the latest 13F filings and insider transactions for Hancock Whitney Co. (NASDAQ:HWC – Free Report).

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