Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 42,904 Shares of Hancock Whitney Corporation $HWC

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) by 13.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 366,218 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 42,904 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.45% of Hancock Whitney worth $23,288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,094,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new stake in Hancock Whitney in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,070,000. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Hancock Whitney during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $576,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Hancock Whitney during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,520,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Hancock Whitney during the 4th quarter worth approximately $57,463,000. 81.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on HWC shares. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Hancock Whitney from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Hovde Group cut shares of Hancock Whitney from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $74.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Zacks Research raised shares of Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Benchmark assumed coverage on shares of Hancock Whitney in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price target on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.50.

Hancock Whitney Stock Performance

Shares of HWC stock opened at $77.29 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $71.16 and a 200-day moving average of $68.48. The company has a market cap of $6.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.87 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Hancock Whitney Corporation has a 52 week low of $54.05 and a 52 week high of $79.36.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $393.64 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $400.01 million. Hancock Whitney had a net margin of 21.34% and a return on equity of 11.20%. Hancock Whitney’s quarterly revenue was down 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.38 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney Corporation will post 6.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Hancock Whitney’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.07%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Christine L. Pickering sold 417 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.16, for a total transaction of $28,005.72. Following the transaction, the director owned 25,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,683,432.56. This represents a 1.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.92% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hancock Whitney Profile

Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ: HWC) is a regional financial services company headquartered in Gulfport, Mississippi. The firm was established in April 2019 through the merger of Hancock Holding Company and Whitney Holding Corporation, each of which traced its roots to the late 19th century. This combination created one of the largest bank holding companies in the Gulf South region, with a network of branches serving both urban and rural communities.

The company’s core business activities include commercial banking, retail banking and wealth management services.