Contrasting Equitable Financial (OTCMKTS:EQFN) & UMB Financial (NASDAQ:UMBF)

Equitable Financial (OTCMKTS:EQFN) and UMB Financial (NASDAQ:UMBF) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, risk, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

7.2% of Equitable Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.8% of UMB Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.3% of Equitable Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.5% of UMB Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Equitable Financial and UMB Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Equitable Financial	0	0	0	0	0.00
UMB Financial	0	2	10	1	2.92

UMB Financial has a consensus price target of $137.20, indicating a potential upside of 17.79%. Given UMB Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe UMB Financial is more favorable than Equitable Financial.

Risk and Volatility

Equitable Financial has a beta of 0.09, meaning that its stock price is 91% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, UMB Financial has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Equitable Financial and UMB Financial”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Equitable Financial	$33.95 million	1.12	$3.44 million	$1.31	11.76
UMB Financial	$2.80 billion	3.16	$441.24 million	$8.83	13.19

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

Profitability

This table compares Equitable Financial and UMB Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equitable Financial	9.70%	6.57%	0.64%
UMB Financial	16.01%	12.15%	1.11%

Summary

UMB Financial beats Equitable Financial on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Equitable Financial

Equitable Financial Corp. operates as the holding company for Equitable Bank that provides various banking products and services in Nebraska, the United States. The company offers checking and savings accounts; recorder checks; online and mobile banking; remote deposit capture; voice banking; credit card processing; debit and gift cards; and safe deposit boxes. It also provides home, home equity, auto, personal, real estate and construction, operating lines of credit, small business administration, and agricultural loans, as well as equipment financing. In addition, the company offers foreign currency and exchanges; financial planning; wealth management; investment advisory; and retirement services. It operates through branches located in Grand Island, North Platte, and Omaha. The company was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Grand Island, Nebraska.

About UMB Financial

UMB Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company that provides banking services and asset servicing in the United States and internationally. The Commercial Banking segment provides commercial loans and credit card; commercial real estate financing; letters of credit; loan syndication, and consultative service; various business solutions including asset-based lending, mezzanine debt, and minority equity investment; and treasury management service, such as depository service, account reconciliation, cash management tool, accounts payable and receivable solution, electronic fund transfer and automated payment, controlled disbursement, lockbox service, and remote deposit capture service. The Institutional Banking segment offers fund, asset management, and healthcare service to institutional clients; and fund administration and accounting, investor service and transfer agency, mutual fund service, alternative investment service, fixed income sale, trading and underwriting, and corporate trust and escrow service, as well as institutional custody service. This segment also provides healthcare payment solution includes custodial service for health saving accounts and private label, multipurpose debit cards to insurance carriers, third-party administrator, software companies, employers, and financial institutions. The Personal Banking segment offers deposit account, retail credit card, private banking, installment loan, home equity line of credit, residential mortgage, as well as internet banking, ATM network, private banking, brokerage and insurance service, and investment advisory, custody, and trust services. It operates through a network of branches and offices. The company was founded in 1913 and is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri.