Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) versus C&F Financial (NASDAQ:CFFI) Financial Review

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

Dividends

Hancock Whitney pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. C&F Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Hancock Whitney pays out 35.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. C&F Financial pays out 23.2% 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. Hancock Whitney has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years and C&F Financial has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Hancock Whitney is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

81.2% of Hancock Whitney shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 37.2% of C&F Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Hancock Whitney shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.4% of C&F Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Hancock Whitney and C&F Financial”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hancock Whitney	$2.02 billion	2.76	$486.07 million	$5.68	12.06
C&F Financial	$186.13 million	1.33	$26.83 million	$8.28	9.20

Hancock Whitney has higher revenue and earnings than C&F Financial. C&F Financial 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 Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Hancock Whitney and C&F Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hancock Whitney	0	1	6	2	3.11
C&F Financial	0	1	0	0	2.00

Hancock Whitney presently has a consensus price target of $76.57, indicating a potential upside of 11.80%. Given Hancock Whitney’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Hancock Whitney is more favorable than C&F Financial.

Risk and Volatility

Hancock Whitney has a beta of 1.02, indicating that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, C&F Financial has a beta of 0.34, indicating that its stock price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hancock Whitney	24.05%	11.16%	1.39%
C&F Financial	14.43%	10.82%	1.00%

Summary

Hancock Whitney beats C&F Financial on 15 of the 18 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 C&F Financial

C&F Financial Corp. is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services to individuals and businesses. It operates through the following segments: Community Banking, Mortgage Banking and Consumer Finance. The Community Banking segment provides checking and savings deposit accounts, business, real estate, development, mortgage, home equity, and installment loans. The Mortgage Banking segment offers ancillary mortgage loan origination services for loan settlement and residential appraisals. The Consumer Finance segment consists of automobile financing through lending programs that are designed to serve customers in the non-prime market who have limited access to traditional automobile financing. The company was founded on March 8, 1994 and is headquartered in Toano, VA.