Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ: HWC) stock jumped 2.14% on Tuesday to $37.74 against a previous-day closing price of $36.95. With 0.75 million shares changed hands, the volume of the stock remained heavier than its average volume of 0.69 million shares. During the session, the Banks – Regional company that operates in wider Financial sector, reached to the highest price of $38.68 whereas the lowest price it dropped to was $36.05. The 52-week range on HWC shows that it touched its highest point at $57.00 and its lowest point at $31.02 during that stretch. It currently has a 1-year price target of $44.61. With its current market cap of 3.30 billion, HWC has annualized dividend of $1.20 while the current yield stands at 3.18%. Beta for the stock currently stands at 1.33.
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Price Performance and Earnings:
Stock performance is one of the indicators that investors use to determine whether they will profit from a stock. The price performance of HWC was up-trending over the past week, with a rise of 14.26%, but this was up by 3.40% over a month. Three-month performance dropped to -23.20% while six-month performance fell -28.51%. The stock lost -19.80% in the past year, while it has lost -22.01% so far this year. A look at the trailing 12-month EPS for HWC yields 6.03 with Next year EPS estimates of 5.25. For the next quarter, that number is 1.38. This implies an EPS growth rate of 14.60% for this year and -4.50% for next year. EPS is expected to grow by 8.00% annually over the next five years; however, over the past five years, the company experienced an annual growth rate of 17.10%.
Float and Shares Shorts:
At present, 86.02 million HWC shares are outstanding with a float of 84.90 million shares on hand for trading. On Apr 27, 2023, short shares totaled 2.34 million, which was 2.72% higher than short shares on Mar 30, 2023. In addition to Mr. John M. Hairston as the firm’s Pres, CEO & Director, Mr. Michael M. Achary serves as its Sr. EVP, CFO & Principal Accounting Officer.
Institutional Ownership:
Through their ownership of 84.06% of HWC’s outstanding shares, institutional investors have majority control over the company. Other institutions hold 7.68% of HWC, in contrast to 57.80% held by mutual funds. Shares owned by individuals account for 28.34%. As the largest shareholder in HWC with 11.44% of the stake, BlackRock Fund Advisors holds 9,837,650 shares worth 9,837,650. A second-largest stockholder of HWC, The Vanguard Group, Inc., holds 8,987,024 shares, controlling over 10.45% of the firm’s shares. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP is the third largest shareholder in HWC, holding 4,451,193 shares or 5.18% stake. With a 3.28% stake in HWC, the Delaware Small Cap Value Fund is the largest stakeholder. A total of 2,823,400 shares are owned by the mutual fund manager. The FCPI Small Cap Value, which owns about 3.28% of HWC stock, is the second-largest Mutual Fund holder. It holds 2,823,400 shares valued at 103.11 million. iShares Core S&P Mid Cap ETF holds 3.11% of the stake in HWC, owning 2,674,068 shares worth 97.66 million.
Analysts Ratings:
Reading analyst opinions is an effective way to decide where to invest, and there are several opinions available for HWC since 0 analysts follow the stock currently. In the same way, a target price assigned to a stock can also reveal much about its potential. With HWC analysts setting a high price target of $52.00 and a low target of $41.00, the average target price over the next 12 months is $44.61. Based on these targets, HWC could surge 37.78% to reach the target high and rise by 8.64% to reach the target low. Reaching the average price target will result in a growth of 18.2% from current levels.
EPS: Estimates vs Actual
It is also common to use earnings estimates to evaluate a firm’s growth potential and to determine trading strategy.
Dividends & Yield:
In terms of dividends, HWC has a current ratio of $1.2, which is $1.2 over the trailing 12-months, while a dividend of $1.06 is likely to be paid on average over the next five years. Dividend yield is another indicator that appeals to many investors, and HWC currently yields $2.94. In the past year, HWC’s dividend yield has been $2.94, but when looking at the stock over the past five years, its yield has been $2.85. Accordingly, HWC has a current buyback yield of $1.24. This was $1.24 for the TTM.
Summary of Insider Activity:
Insiders traded HWC stock several times over the past three months with 22 Buys and 0 Sells. In these transactions, 32,613 shares were bought while 0 shares were sold. The number of buy transactions has increased to 50 while that of sell transactions has risen to 29 over the past year. The total number of shares bought during that period was 152,373 while 99,697 shares were sold.
