Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ:PNFP) & Eagle Financial Services (NASDAQ:EFSI) Head to Head Comparison

Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ:PNFP) and Eagle Financial Services (NASDAQ:EFSI) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Pinnacle Financial Partners and Eagle Financial Services”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pinnacle Financial Partners	$1.74 billion	4.39	$475.06 million	$7.87	12.51
Eagle Financial Services	$63.71 million	3.35	$15.34 million	$2.23	17.83

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

Dividends

Pinnacle Financial Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Eagle Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Pinnacle Financial Partners pays out 12.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Eagle Financial Services pays out 55.6% 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 and Eagle Financial Services has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Eagle Financial Services is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Pinnacle Financial Partners and Eagle Financial Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pinnacle Financial Partners	19.17%	9.91%	1.17%
Eagle Financial Services	9.30%	10.17%	0.87%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

87.4% of Pinnacle Financial Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.3% of Eagle Financial Services shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Pinnacle Financial Partners shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.7% of Eagle Financial Services shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Pinnacle Financial Partners and Eagle Financial Services, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pinnacle Financial Partners	0	8	11	1	2.65
Eagle Financial Services	0	2	1	0	2.33

Pinnacle Financial Partners currently has a consensus price target of $113.00, suggesting a potential upside of 14.80%. Eagle Financial Services has a consensus price target of $39.50, suggesting a potential downside of 0.65%. Given Pinnacle Financial Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Pinnacle Financial Partners is more favorable than Eagle Financial Services.

Risk & Volatility

Pinnacle Financial Partners has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Eagle Financial Services has a beta of 0.21, meaning that its share price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Pinnacle Financial Partners beats Eagle Financial Services on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Eagle Financial Services

Eagle Financial Services, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Bank of Clarke County that provides various retail and commercial banking products and services in the Shenandoah Valley and Northern Virginia. The company’s deposit products include checking, NOW, money market, and regular savings accounts; and demand and time deposits. Its loan portfolio comprises one-to-four-family residential real estate, commercial real estate, construction and land development, and commercial and industrial loans, as well as secured and unsecured consumer loans, which include personal installment loans, personal lines of credit, automobile loans, and credit card loans. The company also offers personal and retirement plan services; investment services comprising tax-deferred annuities, IRAs and rollovers, mutual funds, retirement plans, college savings plans, life insurance, long term care insurance, fixed income investing, brokerage CDs, and full service or discount brokerage services; non-deposit investment products; and title insurance products. In addition, it provides ATM and debit cards; and telephone, internet, and mobile banking services, as well as other commercial deposit account services, such as ACH origination and remote deposit capture services. The company operates through twelve full-service branches, two loan production offices, one wealth management office, and one drive-through only facility, as well as 13 ATM locations in the Virginia communities of Berryville, Winchester, Boyce, Stephens City, Purcellville, Warrenton, Leesburg, Ashburn, and Fairfax. Eagle Financial Services, Inc. was founded in 1881 and is headquartered in Berryville, Virginia.