Reviewing Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) & Home Bancorp (NASDAQ:HBCP)

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

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Home Bancorp and Hancock Whitney”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Home Bancorp	$209.23 million	2.22	$46.06 million	$5.87	10.09
Hancock Whitney	$2.02 billion	2.57	$486.07 million	$5.68	10.95

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Home Bancorp and Hancock Whitney, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Home Bancorp	0	1	3	1	3.00
Hancock Whitney	0	1	7	2	3.10

Home Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $63.00, indicating a potential upside of 6.37%. Hancock Whitney has a consensus target price of $75.63, indicating a potential upside of 21.64%. Given Hancock Whitney’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Hancock Whitney is more favorable than Home Bancorp.

Dividends

Home Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Hancock Whitney pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Home Bancorp pays out 21.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hancock Whitney pays out 35.2% 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. Home Bancorp has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years and Hancock Whitney has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Home Bancorp	22.01%	11.03%	1.32%
Hancock Whitney	24.05%	11.16%	1.39%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

49.4% of Home Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.2% of Hancock Whitney shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.9% of Home Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Hancock Whitney shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Home Bancorp has a beta of 0.58, meaning that its share price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hancock Whitney has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Hancock Whitney beats Home Bancorp on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Home Bancorp

Home Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Home Bank, National Association that provides various banking products and services in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. It offers deposit products, including interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing checking, money market, savings, NOW, and certificates of deposit accounts. The company also provides various loan products comprising one-to four-family first mortgage loans, home equity loans and lines, commercial real estate loans, construction and land loans, multi-family residential loans, commercial and industrial loans, and consumer loans. In addition, it invests in securities; and offers credit cards and online banking services. Home Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana.

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.