Head to Head Contrast: United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCB) and Origin Bancorp (NASDAQ:OBNK)

United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCB) and Origin Bancorp (NASDAQ:OBNK) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Dividends

United Community Banks pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Origin Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. United Community Banks pays out 45.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Origin Bancorp pays out 18.7% 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. Origin Bancorp has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

82.3% of United Community Banks shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.2% of Origin Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of United Community Banks shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.2% of Origin Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares United Community Banks and Origin Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Community Banks	$952.89 million	4.06	$252.40 million	$2.20	14.46
Origin Bancorp	$347.14 million	3.14	$87.71 million	$3.21	11.02

United Community Banks has higher revenue and earnings than Origin Bancorp. Origin Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than United Community Banks, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for United Community Banks and Origin Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Community Banks	0	4	3	0	2.43
Origin Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00

United Community Banks currently has a consensus target price of $34.57, indicating a potential upside of 8.65%. Given United Community Banks’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe United Community Banks is more favorable than Origin Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares United Community Banks and Origin Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Community Banks	16.48%	8.64%	1.04%
Origin Bancorp	20.47%	10.45%	0.97%

Volatility & Risk

United Community Banks has a beta of 0.86, indicating that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Origin Bancorp has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

United Community Banks beats Origin Bancorp on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About United Community Banks

United Community Banks, Inc. operates as the financial holding company for United Community Bank that provides financial products and services to commercial, retail, government, education, energy, health care, and real estate sectors. It accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts. The company also offers lending services, including real estate, consumer, and commercial loans, to individuals, small businesses, mid-sized commercial businesses, and non-profit organizations, as well as secured and unsecured, and mortgage loans. In addition, it originates loans partially guaranteed by the SBA and USDA loan programs. Further, the company provides wealth management services comprising financial planning, customized portfolio management, and investment advice; trust services to manage fiduciary assets; non-deposit investment products; and insurance products, including life insurance, long-term care insurance, and tax-deferred annuities, as well as invests in residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, the U.S. treasury, the U.S. agency, and municipal obligations. Additionally, it offers reinsurance on a property insurance contract; insurance agency services; treasury management; credit cards; payment and commerce solution, equipment finance, investment advisory, and other related financial services; brokerage services; and payment processing, merchant, wire transfer, private banking, and other related financial services. The company was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Blairsville, Georgia.

About Origin Bancorp

Origin Bancorp, Inc. is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of financial services to small and medium-sized businesses, municipalities, high net worth individuals, and retail clients. The firm’s products and services include lending, deposits, mortgage banking, and insurance. It also offers other banking services such as Internet banking and voice response information, mobile applications, cash management, overdraft protection, direct deposit, safe deposit boxes, U.S. savings bonds, and automatic account transfers. The company was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Ruston, LA.