Critical Comparison: Community Trust Bancorp (NASDAQ:CTBI) & Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF)

Community Trust Bancorp (NASDAQ:CTBI) and Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Community Trust Bancorp and Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Community Trust Bancorp	$409.34 million	2.89	$98.06 million	$5.71	11.41
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	$652.63 million	4.68	$144.88 million	$1.60	19.53

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has higher revenue and earnings than Community Trust Bancorp. Community Trust Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Community Trust Bancorp has a beta of 0.53, indicating that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has a beta of 0.91, indicating that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Community Trust Bancorp and Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Community Trust Bancorp	0	0	3	0	3.00
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	0	4	3	0	2.43

Community Trust Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $63.50, indicating a potential downside of 2.53%. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has a consensus target price of $31.90, indicating a potential upside of 2.08%. Given Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida is more favorable than Community Trust Bancorp.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

60.2% of Community Trust Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.8% of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida shares are held by institutional investors. 2.6% of Community Trust Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Community Trust Bancorp and Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Community Trust Bancorp	24.85%	12.42%	1.57%
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	15.47%	7.07%	0.98%

Dividends

Community Trust Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $2.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Community Trust Bancorp pays out 37.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida pays out 47.5% 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. Community Trust Bancorp has increased its dividend for 44 consecutive years and Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Community Trust Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Community Trust Bancorp beats Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Community Trust Bancorp

Community Trust Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Community Trust Bank, Inc. that engages in the provision of commercial and personal banking, and trust and wealth management services to small and mid-sized communities in eastern, northeastern, central, and south-central Kentucky, as well as southern West Virginia, and northeastern Tennessee. The company accepts time and demand deposits, checking accounts, savings accounts and savings certificates, individual retirement accounts and Keogh plans, and money market accounts. Its loan portfolio includes commercial, construction, mortgage, and personal loans; lease-financing, lines of credit, revolving lines of credit, and term loans, as well as other specialized loans, including asset-based financing; residential and commercial real estate loans; and consumer loans. The company also provides cash management, renting safe deposit boxes, and funds transfer services; issues letters of credit; and acts as a trustee of personal trusts, executor of estates, trustee for employee benefit trusts, and paying agent for bond and stock issues, as well as an investment agent and depositor for securities. In addition, it offers securities brokerage services; debit cards; annuity and life insurance products; and repurchase agreements, as well as mobile, internet banking, and e-statement services. The company was founded in 1903 and is headquartered in Pikeville, Kentucky.

About Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida

Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida is a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of integrated financial services. It provides banking and investment services to businesses and consumers, including personal and business deposit products, Internet and mobile banking, personal, commercial and mortgage loans, wealth management services, and treasury management solutions. The company was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Stuart, FL.