Head to Head Survey: Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) and South Atlantic Bancshares (OTCMKTS:SABK)

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) and South Atlantic Bancshares (OTCMKTS:SABK) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

81.2% of Hancock Whitney shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 13.3% of South Atlantic Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Hancock Whitney shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Hancock Whitney and South Atlantic Bancshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hancock Whitney	$2.02 billion	2.79	$486.07 million	$4.87	14.25
South Atlantic Bancshares	$102.25 million	1.90	$17.10 million	$2.25	11.38

Hancock Whitney has higher revenue and earnings than South Atlantic Bancshares. South Atlantic Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hancock Whitney, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Hancock Whitney pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. South Atlantic Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Hancock Whitney pays out 41.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. South Atlantic Bancshares pays out 4.4% 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. Hancock Whitney has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Hancock Whitney is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Hancock Whitney and South Atlantic Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hancock Whitney	0	3	5	1	2.78
South Atlantic Bancshares	0	1	0	0	2.00

Hancock Whitney presently has a consensus target price of $78.14, suggesting a potential upside of 12.63%. Given Hancock Whitney’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Hancock Whitney is more favorable than South Atlantic Bancshares.

Profitability

This table compares Hancock Whitney and South Atlantic Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hancock Whitney	21.34%	11.20%	1.40%
South Atlantic Bancshares	N/A	N/A	N/A

Volatility and Risk

Hancock Whitney has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, South Atlantic Bancshares has a beta of 0.12, meaning that its stock price is 88% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Hancock Whitney beats South Atlantic Bancshares on 17 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hancock Whitney

Hancock Whitney Corporation operates as the financial holding company for Hancock Whitney Bank that provides traditional and online banking services to commercial, small business, and retail customers. It offers various transaction and savings deposit products consisting of brokered deposits, time deposits, and money market accounts; treasury management services, secured and unsecured loan products including revolving credit facilities, and letters of credit and similar financial guarantees; and trust and investment management services to retirement plans, corporations, and individuals, and investment advisory and brokerage products. The company also provides commercial and industrial loans including real and non-real estate loans; construction and land development loans; and residential mortgages, as well as consumer loans. In addition, it offers commercial finance products to middle market and corporate clients, including leases and related structures; facilitates investments in new market tax credit activities and holding certain foreclosed assets; provides customers access to fixed annuity and life insurance products; and underwriting transactions products, as well as debt and mortgage-related securities. The company was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Gulfport, Mississippi.

About South Atlantic Bancshares

South Atlantic Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for South Atlantic Bank that provides consumer and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, and corporations in South Carolina. The company offers checking, money market, and saving accounts, as well as certificate of deposit, individual retirement, and health saving accounts; personal, auto, and recreation loans, as well as home equity and ready reserve overdraft line of credits, and commercial lending products; and credit cards. It also provides cash management and merchant card services; remote deposit capture and automated clearing house services; online, mobile, and telephone banking services; personal and business checks; mortgage products and services; and wealth management services. The company operates offices in Myrtle Beach, Carolina Forest, North Myrtle Beach, Murrells Inlet, Pawleys Island, Georgetown, Mount Pleasant, Charleston, Bluffton, Hilton Head Island, and Beaufort, South Carolina. South Atlantic Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.