Analyzing Southern Missouri Bancorp (NASDAQ:SMBC) & Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF)

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Southern Missouri Bancorp and Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Southern Missouri Bancorp	0	4	1	1	2.50
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	0	2	3	0	2.60

Southern Missouri Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $83.67, suggesting a potential upside of 17.19%. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has a consensus target price of $35.50, suggesting a potential upside of 10.37%. Given Southern Missouri Bancorp’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Southern Missouri Bancorp is more favorable than Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida.

Risk and Volatility

Southern Missouri Bancorp has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has a beta of 0.84, meaning that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Southern Missouri Bancorp	22.63%	12.59%	1.41%
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	15.11%	8.68%	1.14%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Southern Missouri Bancorp and Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Southern Missouri Bancorp	$200.65 million	3.92	$71.84 million	$6.43	11.10
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	$935.52 million	3.33	$144.88 million	$1.57	20.49

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has higher revenue and earnings than Southern Missouri Bancorp. Southern Missouri Bancorp 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.

Dividends

Southern Missouri Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Southern Missouri Bancorp pays out 16.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida pays out 48.4% 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. Southern Missouri Bancorp has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years and Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

49.5% of Southern Missouri Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.8% of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida shares are owned by institutional investors. 14.6% of Southern Missouri Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Southern Missouri Bancorp beats Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Southern Missouri Bancorp

Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Southern Bank that provides banking and financial services to individuals and corporate customers in the United States. The company offers deposits products, including interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing transaction accounts, saving accounts, certificates of deposit, retirement savings plans, and money market deposit accounts. It also provides loans, such as residential mortgage, commercial real estate, construction, and commercial business loans; and consumer loans comprising home equity, direct and indirect automobile loans, second mortgages, mobile home loans, and loans secured by deposits. In addition, the company offers fiduciary and investment management services; commercial and consumer insurance; online and mobile banking services; and debit or credit cards. The company was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.

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.