Hancock Whitney Up 16.9% So Far This Year: Should You Buy the Stock?

Shares of Hancock Whitney Corp. HWC have gained 16.9% so far this year, outperforming the industry’s 11.8% growth and the S&P 500 Index’s 11.6% rally.

If we compare the company’s price performance with its close peers like Bank OZK OZK and F.N.B. Corp FNB, it appears that the HWC stock has outperformed both. Year to date, FNB and OZK shares have rallied 6.4% and 5.8%, respectively.

YTD Price Performance

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Does the HWC stock have more upside left despite recent strength in price? Let us find out by looking at its fundamentals and growth prospects.

Key Positives of Hancock Whitney

Revenue Strength: Hancock Whitney’s total revenues (tax-equivalent) have witnessed a 3.6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over 2020-2025, supported by robust loan growth (total loans grew at a 1.9% CAGR).

Revenue Trend

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The company has an organic plan to add revenue-generating associates (already hired 42 net new bankers in the first half of 2026 against a full-year goal of 50) and expand in Florida and Texas.

Last month, HWC closed the acquisition of OFB Bancshares, Inc., broadening its presence in Orlando, Jacksonville and the Florida Panhandle. It plans to combine OFB’s local relationships with its broader platform and expanded private banking and fee-income capabilities, supported by the 2025 Sabal Trust acquisition. These initiatives should support sustained revenue growth for HWC and deepen full-relationship banking across higher-growth markets.

We expect total revenues (tax-equivalent) to grow 1.5%, 14.3% and 4.2% in 2026, 2027 and 2028, respectively.

Expanding Net Interest Margin (NIM): The company’s NIM has been witnessing an uptrend over the past few years. The metric has improved from 3.26% in 2022 to 3.47% in 2025, with the uptrend continuing in the first half of 2026.

The Federal Reserve’s hawkish monetary policy stance will likely keep supporting Hancock Whitney’s NIM growth. Thus, while higher securities yields, asset repricing and the acquired deposit base will aid growth, the benefit from lower rates on maturing certificates of deposit is expected to diminish.

Assuming a flat-rate environment, management expects modest NIM expansion in the second half of 2026.

Solid Balance Sheet & Capital Position: Hancock Whitney has a strong balance sheet. As of June 30, 2026, it had total debt of $1.76 billion (most of which consisted of short-term borrowings).

The company maintains investment-grade issuer ratings of BBB from S&P, with a positive outlook, and Baa2 from Moody’s, with a stable outlook. At the end of the second quarter of 2026, it had $29.6 billion in deposits, with non-interest-bearing balances representing 35% of total deposits, while brokered deposits were at zero.

HWC’s CET1 ratio was an estimated 13.18%, the total risk-based capital ratio was 14.97%, and the tangible common equity ratio was 9.78%. These levels provide capacity to fund organic growth. Moreover, its solid balance sheet and capital positions help sustain efficient capital distributions.

The company raised its quarterly dividend by 11.1% in January 2026, following increases of 12.5% in 2025 and 33.3% in 2024. In December 2025, its board of directors approved a buyback plan to repurchase up to 4.1 million shares. As of June 30, 2026, approximately 2 million shares remained available under the program.

What’s Hurting HWC’s Growth?

Rising Expenses: Hancock Whitney’s expansion strategy continues to raise its cost base. The company has been witnessing a persistent increase in expenses. While total non-interest expenses declined in 2022 and 2024, the metric witnessed a five-year (2020-2025) CAGR of 1.5%, with the uptrend continuing in the first six months of 2026.

Expense Trend

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Though the acquisition of OFB is expected to deliver annual cost savings of $15.8 million, these benefits will not be fully realized until 2027. Execution delays, client attrition or higher conversion costs could reduce expected accretion. Continued investment in bankers, financial centers and technology may also make it harder to keep the efficiency ratio below management’s 55% objective.

Mortgage Segment Performance: Hancock Whitney’s mortgage banking results have been volatile since secondary-market activity slowed in the second half of 2021. Secondary mortgage market operations income recorded a negative 18.2% CAGR over 2020-2025.

The weakness persisted in the first six months of 2026 as elevated mortgage rates continue to limit refinancing, home-purchase demand and gain-on-sale activity. This underscores that mortgage revenues will remain below prior-cycle levels.

Dependence on more cyclical origination volumes could also make fee income growth less consistent if rates remain high or housing activity weakens. We don't expect the metric to touch the levels reached during 2020 and 2021 anytime soon.

Weak Asset Quality: Weakening asset quality is another headwind for Hancock Whitney. Provision for credit losses and net charge-offs (NCOs) declined in 2021, 2022 and 2024, but both increased in 2023 amid concerns about a weaker economic backdrop. In 2025, provisions fell year over year, while NCOs continued to rise.

Again, in the first half of 2026, both provisions and NCOs increased. Commercial loans represented 78.6% of the portfolio as of June 30, 2026, including commercial real estate, construction, healthcare and other economically sensitive categories.

OFB also adds a loan portfolio requiring a gross credit mark of $24.6 million. A deterioration in borrower cash flows, collateral values or regional economic conditions could reverse recent criticized-loan improvement and raise provisioning requirements. We expect provisions to jump 26.8% this year.

Analyst Sentiments for HWC

Over the past 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for HWC’s 2026 earnings of $6.44 per share has been revised lower. Its 2027 earnings estimate of $7.23 has been unchanged. This indicates that analysts are not very optimistic regarding the company’s earnings growth prospects.

Earnings Estimate Revision

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Final Verdict on Hancock Whitney Stock

HWC’s solid year-to-date performance reflects several fundamental strengths, including improving NIM, healthy deposit levels, strong capital ratios and continued expansion in attractive Florida and Texas markets. The OFB Bancshares acquisition, ongoing banker additions and efforts to deepen fee-based relationships should further support long-term revenue growth.

However, the stock’s rally so far this year appears to have already captured a meaningful portion of these positives. Rising operating expenses, continued weakness in mortgage banking and signs of deterioration in asset quality could limit near-term earnings momentum.

Further, the downward revision to the 2026 earnings estimate suggests analysts have become somewhat more cautious about the company’s near-term profit outlook.

Therefore, investors should not jump to invest in the stock immediately despite its fundamental strengths. Rather, it is advisable to hold the stock and wait for clearer evidence of stronger earnings growth and successful integration of OFB. Currently, Hancock Whitney carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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