Comparing Auburn National Bancorporation (NASDAQ:AUBN) and Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ:PNFP)

Auburn National Bancorporation (NASDAQ:AUBN) and Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ:PNFP) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Auburn National Bancorporation and Pinnacle Financial Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Auburn National Bancorporation	15.43%	8.67%	0.71%
Pinnacle Financial Partners	19.17%	9.91%	1.17%

Risk & Volatility

Auburn National Bancorporation has a beta of 0.5, suggesting that its stock price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pinnacle Financial Partners has a beta of 1.12, suggesting that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Auburn National Bancorporation and Pinnacle Financial Partners, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Auburn National Bancorporation	0	1	0	0	2.00
Pinnacle Financial Partners	0	7	6	0	2.46

Pinnacle Financial Partners has a consensus price target of $109.55, suggesting a potential upside of 17.46%. Given Pinnacle Financial Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Pinnacle Financial Partners is more favorable than Auburn National Bancorporation.

Dividends

Auburn National Bancorporation pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Pinnacle Financial Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Auburn National Bancorporation pays out 52.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Pinnacle Financial Partners pays out 12.2% 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. Pinnacle Financial Partners has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Auburn National Bancorporation and Pinnacle Financial Partners”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Auburn National Bancorporation	$32.14 million	2.69	$6.40 million	$2.05	12.07
Pinnacle Financial Partners	$1.74 billion	4.16	$475.06 million	$7.87	11.85

Pinnacle Financial Partners has higher revenue and earnings than Auburn National Bancorporation. Pinnacle Financial Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Auburn National Bancorporation, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

39.5% of Auburn National Bancorporation shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.4% of Pinnacle Financial Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. 25.1% of Auburn National Bancorporation shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Pinnacle Financial Partners shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Pinnacle Financial Partners beats Auburn National Bancorporation on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Auburn National Bancorporation

Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for AuburnBank that provides various banking products and services in East Alabama. The company offers checking, savings, and transaction deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also provides commercial, financial, agricultural, real estate construction, and consumer loan products; and other financial services. In addition, the company offers automated teller services; debit cards; online banking, bill payment, and other electronic banking services; and safe deposit boxes. Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in Auburn, Alabama.

About Pinnacle Financial Partners

Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as the bank holding company for Pinnacle Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals, businesses, and professional entities in the United States. The company accepts various deposits, including savings, noninterest-bearing and interest-bearing checking, money market, and certificate of deposit accounts; and provides treasury management services, which includes online wire origination, enhanced ACH origination services, positive pay, zero balance and sweep accounts, automated bill pay services, electronic receivables processing, lockbox processing, and merchant card acceptance services. It offers equipment and working capital loans; commercial real estate loans comprising investment properties and business loans; secured and unsecured loans, such as installment and term, lines of credit, and residential first mortgage, as well as home equity loans and home equity lines of credit; and credit cards for consumers and businesses. The company also provides investment products; brokerage and investment advisory programs; and fiduciary and investment services, such as personal trust, investment management, estate administration, endowments, foundations, individual retirement accounts, escrow services, and custody. In addition, it offers insurance agency services primarily in the property and casualty area; merger and acquisition advisory services; and private debt, equity and mezzanine, and other middle-market advisory services. Further, the company provides telephone and online banking, mobile banking, debit and credit cards, direct deposit and remote deposit capture, mobile deposit option, automated teller machine, and cash management services. Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.