Comparing Silvercrest Asset Management Group (NASDAQ:SAMG) & Sound Point Meridian Capital (NYSE:SPMC)

Sound Point Meridian Capital (NYSE:SPMC) and Silvercrest Asset Management Group (NASDAQ:SAMG) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, profitability, earnings, valuation and institutional ownership.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Sound Point Meridian Capital and Silvercrest Asset Management Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sound Point Meridian Capital	N/A	N/A	N/A	($3.53)	-2.76
Silvercrest Asset Management Group	$125.32 million	1.26	$4.89 million	$0.53	25.28

Silvercrest Asset Management Group has higher revenue and earnings than Sound Point Meridian Capital. Sound Point Meridian Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Silvercrest Asset Management Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

47.6% of Silvercrest Asset Management Group shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Sound Point Meridian Capital shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.4% of Silvercrest Asset Management Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Sound Point Meridian Capital and Silvercrest Asset Management Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sound Point Meridian Capital	0	3	1	0	2.25
Silvercrest Asset Management Group	1	0	0	1	2.50

Sound Point Meridian Capital currently has a consensus target price of $16.10, suggesting a potential upside of 65.18%. Given Sound Point Meridian Capital’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Sound Point Meridian Capital is more favorable than Silvercrest Asset Management Group.

Dividends

Sound Point Meridian Capital pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 24.6%. Silvercrest Asset Management Group pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.3%. Sound Point Meridian Capital pays out -68.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Silvercrest Asset Management Group pays out 158.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Silvercrest Asset Management Group has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Sound Point Meridian Capital is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Volatility and Risk

Sound Point Meridian Capital has a beta of 0.66, indicating that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Silvercrest Asset Management Group has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Sound Point Meridian Capital and Silvercrest Asset Management Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sound Point Meridian Capital	N/A	N/A	N/A
Silvercrest Asset Management Group	3.90%	11.99%	7.44%

Summary

Silvercrest Asset Management Group beats Sound Point Meridian Capital on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sound Point Meridian Capital

Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc. is an externally managed, non-diversified closed-end management investment company. Its investment objective is to generate high current income, with a secondary objective to generate capital appreciation, by investing primarily in third-party collateralized loan obligation equity and mezzanine tranches. Sound Point Meridian Capital Inc. is based in NEW YORK.

About Silvercrest Asset Management Group

Silvercrest Asset Management Group Inc., a wealth management firm, provides financial advisory and related family office services in the United States. The company serves ultra-high net worth individuals and families, as well as their trusts; endowments; foundations; and other institutional investors. It also manages funds of funds and other investment funds. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in New York, New York.