GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) _ Hancock Whitney Corporation (HWC) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter earnings of $103.6 million.

The bank, based in Gulfport, Mississippi, said it had earnings of $1.17 per share. Earnings, adjusted for pretax gains, came to 96 cents per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 91 cents per share.

The holding company of Whitney Bank and Hancock Bank posted revenue of $339.6 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $320.6 million, also beating Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $318.2 million.

For the year, the company reported a loss of $45.2 million, or 54 cents per share, swinging to a loss in the period. Revenue was reported as $1.27 billion.

Hancock Whitney shares have risen 16% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $39.47, a fall of 7.5% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on HWC at https://www.zacks.com/ap/HWC

Copyright by Automated Insights, Inc. All rights reserved., source Associated Press News