Head-To-Head Comparison: Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) vs. M&F Bancorp (OTCMKTS:MFBP)

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) and M&F Bancorp (OTCMKTS:MFBP) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

81.2% of Hancock Whitney shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Hancock Whitney shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of M&F Bancorp shares are owned by 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Hancock Whitney and M&F Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hancock Whitney	0	1	6	1	3.00
M&F Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00

Hancock Whitney presently has a consensus target price of $70.00, indicating a potential upside of 11.02%. Given Hancock Whitney’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Hancock Whitney is more favorable than M&F Bancorp.

Dividends

Hancock Whitney pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. M&F Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Hancock Whitney pays out 33.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hancock Whitney has raised 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.

Volatility & Risk

Hancock Whitney has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, M&F Bancorp has a beta of -0.5, suggesting that its share price is 150% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Hancock Whitney and M&F Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hancock Whitney	$2.06 billion	2.60	$460.82 million	$5.43	11.61
M&F Bancorp	$29.33 million	1.25	$4.77 million	N/A	N/A

Hancock Whitney has higher revenue and earnings than M&F Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares Hancock Whitney and M&F Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hancock Whitney	23.28%	11.21%	1.35%
M&F Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Hancock Whitney beats M&F Bancorp on 14 of the 16 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 M&F Bancorp

M&F Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for the Mechanics and Farmers Bank that provides consumer and commercial banking products and services in North Carolina. It offers deposit products, including demand deposits; checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company provides loans for commercial and residential real estate, and construction; and consumer and other loans; as well as ATM services. M&F Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina.