Head to Head Survey: Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) versus Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF)

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) and Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida and Investar, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	0	3	3	0	2.50
Investar	0	3	0	0	2.00

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida currently has a consensus price target of $33.13, suggesting a potential upside of 9.18%. Investar has a consensus price target of $31.50, suggesting a potential upside of 13.90%. Given Investar’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Investar is more favorable than Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida and Investar”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	$935.52 million	3.15	$144.88 million	$1.52	19.96
Investar	$153.48 million	2.48	$22.90 million	$2.28	12.13

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has higher revenue and earnings than Investar. Investar is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

81.8% of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 50.2% of Investar shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 10.6% of Investar shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Investar pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida pays out 50.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Investar pays out 19.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years and Investar has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida and Investar’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	14.42%	8.23%	1.11%
Investar	16.53%	11.83%	1.12%

Risk & Volatility

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Investar has a beta of 0.46, indicating that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida beats Investar on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida

Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida is a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of integrated financial services. It provides banking and investment services to businesses and consumers, including personal and business deposit products, Internet and mobile banking, personal, commercial and mortgage loans, wealth management services, and treasury management solutions. The company was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Stuart, FL.

About Investar

Investar Holding Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Investar Bank that provides a range of commercial banking products to individuals, professionals, and small to medium-sized businesses in south Louisiana, southeast Texas, and Alabama in the United States. The company offers various deposit products and services, such as savings, checking, money market, and individual retirement accounts, as well as various certificates of deposit; debit and credit cards; internet, mobile, and video banking services; and reciprocal deposit products. It also provides commercial real estate loans; commercial and industrial loans, including working capital lines of credit and equipment loans; loans for the construction of commercial projects, and single family residential and multifamily properties; one-to-four family residential real estate loans, such as second mortgage loans; and consumer loans, such as secured and unsecured installment and term loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, and auto loans, as well as loans for personal, family, and household purposes. In addition, the company offers treasury management products, including remote deposit capture, lockbox payment processing, virtual vault, positive pay, ACH origination, wire transfer, investment sweep accounts, and business internet banking services. Further, it provides various other banking services, such as cashiers' checks, direct deposit of payroll and social security checks, night depository, bank-by-mail, automated teller machines, electronic statements, interactive teller machines, online account opening, and mobile wallet payment services. Investar Holding Corporation was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.