Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ: HWC): Do Not Miss The Gain Train

BlackRock Fund Advisors has recently announced that it has increased stake in Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) by 5.97%. After grabbing 9.92 million shares, the institutional investor is now in possession of 0.56 million shares of the Financial Company. The new investment brought the stake of investor firm to 11.54% having worth around $487.36 million. Moreover, The Vanguard Group, Inc. increased its share by 0.11 million to have a control over 8.99 million shares. And Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings to 32465.0 shares by acquiring 4.51 million shares or 5.25% of the stake.

Hancock Whitney Corporation (HWC) concluded trading on 03/23/23 at a closing price of $35.22, with 0.91 million shares of worth about $32.22 million changed hands on the day. Half year performance of the stock remained negative as price took a plunge of -29.43% during that period and on Thursday the price saw a loss of about -1.78%. Currently the company’s common shares owned by public are about 85.85M shares, out of which, 84.90M shares are available for trading.

According to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), insiders took part in trade of the company’s stock for 91 times over the past 12 months. They bought 164,518 shares in 62 of the transactions. In 29 selling transactions, insiders dumped 99,697 shares.

Delaware Small Cap Value Fund, iShares Core S&P Mid Cap ETF, and Vanguard Total Stock Market Index are the top 3 mutual funds which are holding stakes in Hancock Whitney Corporation Delaware Small Cap Value Fund is currently holding 2.7 million shares of worth totaling $132.81 million. The company recently came buying 0.0 shares which brought its stake up to 3.15% of the company’s outstanding shares. iShares Core S&P Mid Cap ETF bought 6060.0 shares, after which its hold over company’s outstanding shares expand to 3.11%, leaving 2.67 million shares with the mutual fund that have a worth of about $131.38 million. Vanguard Total Stock Market Index, after buying 2.48 million shares, have now control over 2.89% of the stake in the company. It holds 1894.0 shares of worth $122.06 million.

Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ: HWC) started trading at $36.18, above $0.32 from concluding price of the previous day. However, the stock later moved at a day high price of 36.18, or with a loss of -1.78%. Stock saw a price change of -8.61% in past 5 days and over the past one month there was a price change of -28.33%. Year-to-date (YTD), HWC shares are showing a performance of -27.22% which decreased to -35.27% when we look at its performance for past 12 months. Over the period of past 52 weeks, stock dropped to lowest price of $35.51 but also hit the highest price of $57.00 during that period. The average intraday trading volume for Hancock Whitney Corporation shares is 594.75K. The stock is currently trading -19.20% below its 20-day simple moving average (SMA20), while that difference is down -26.62% for SMA50 and it goes to -28.11% lower than SMA200.

BlackRock Fund Advisors acquired 9.92 million shares of Hancock Whitney Corporation having value of about $487.36 million. Data submitted at the U.S SEC by BlackRock Fund Advisors revealed that the firm now holds 0.56 million shares in the company valued at close to $19688825.28, or have control over 5.97% stake in the company. Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ: HWC) currently have 85.85M outstanding shares and institutions hold larger chunk of about 81.90% of that. Holding of mutual funds in the company is about 54.16% while other institutional holders and individual stake holders have control over 7.63% and 29.44% of the stake respectively.

The stock has a current market capitalization of $3.29B and its 3Y-monthly beta is at 1.39. PE ratio of stock for trailing 12 months is 5.89, while it has posted earnings per share of $5.98 in the same period. Its PEG reads 0.74 while making debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Volatility of a stock is a metric used to know how much the price of that stock is under influence and for HWC, volatility over the week remained 4.97% while standing at 4.63% over the month.

Analysts are in expectations that Hancock Whitney Corporation (HWC) stock would likely to be making an EPS of $1.58 in the current quarter, while forecast for next quarter EPS is $1.52 and it is $6.03 for next year. For the current quarter EPS, analysts have given the company a lowest target $1.49 which is $1.66 at the higher side of the target for the same. When we compare those targets with actual EPS, we find that company posted an EPS of $1.4 in the same quarter a year ago. Stock’s fiscal year EPS is expected to rise by 14.60% while it is estimated to decrease by -1.00% in next year. EPS is likely to shrink at an annualized rate of 8.00% for next 5-years, compared to annual growth of 17.10% made by the stock over the past 5-years.

Digging deeper we find that several firms have released their research notes about the support levels of the stock. Most recent of them is a note released by Keefe Bruyette on March 14, 2023 offering a Mkt perform rating for the stock and assigned a target price range of between $60 and $50 to it. Coverage by Janney stated Hancock Whitney Corporation (HWC) stock as a Neutral in their note to investors on March 14, 2023, suggesting a price target of $44.50 for the stock. On January 19, 2022, Truist Upgrade their recommendations, while on September 07, 2021, Keefe Bruyette Upgrade their ratings for the stock with a price target of $55. Stock get a Strong buy rating from Raymond James on April 07, 2021.