Head-To-Head Comparison: Atlantic Union Bankshares (NYSE:AUB) versus Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria (NYSE:BBVA)

Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria (NYSE:BBVA) and Atlantic Union Bankshares (NYSE:AUB) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, risk, profitability, earnings and institutional ownership.

Dividends

Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria pays an annual dividend of $1.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Atlantic Union Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria pays out 51.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Atlantic Union Bankshares pays out 44.2% 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. Atlantic Union Bankshares has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria and Atlantic Union Bankshares, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria	0	7	1	0	2.12
Atlantic Union Bankshares	1	2	5	0	2.50

Atlantic Union Bankshares has a consensus target price of $46.14, suggesting a potential upside of 16.78%. Given Atlantic Union Bankshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Atlantic Union Bankshares is more favorable than Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria.

Risk and Volatility

Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atlantic Union Bankshares has a beta of 0.78, indicating that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria and Atlantic Union Bankshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria	27.75%	18.05%	1.27%
Atlantic Union Bankshares	21.97%	10.55%	1.41%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

3.0% of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.6% of Atlantic Union Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Atlantic Union Bankshares shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria and Atlantic Union Bankshares”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria	$41.77 billion	3.88	$11.89 billion	$2.20	13.20
Atlantic Union Bankshares	$2.04 billion	2.77	$273.71 million	$3.35	11.80

Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria has higher revenue and earnings than Atlantic Union Bankshares. Atlantic Union Bankshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Atlantic Union Bankshares beats Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. provides retail banking, wholesale banking, and asset management services in the United States, Spain, Mexico, Turkey, South America, and internationally. The company offers savings account, demand deposits, and time deposits; and loan products, such as residential mortgages, other households, credit card loans, loans to enterprises and public sector, as well as consumer finance. It provides insurance and asset management business, including corporate, commercial, SME, payment systems, retail, private and investment banking, pension and life insurance, leasing, factoring, and brokerage. The company provides its products through online and mobile channels. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. was founded in 1857 and is headquartered in Bilbao, Spain.

About Atlantic Union Bankshares

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Atlantic Union Bank that provides banking and related financial products and services to consumers and businesses in the United States. It operates in two segments, Wholesale Banking and Consumer Banking. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, time deposit, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; and other depository services. It also provides loans for commercial, industrial, residential mortgage, and consumer purposes, as well as debit and credit cards. In addition, it provides treasury management and capital market, wealth management, private banking, trust, financial and retirement planning, brokerage, investment management, equipment finance, mortgage banking, and insurance products and services. The company offers products and services through full-service branches and ATMs, as well as through its mobile and internet banking. The company was formerly known as Union Bankshares Corporation and changed its name to Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation in May 2019. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Glen Allen, Virginia.