Head to Head Analysis: First Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:FGBI) & WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC)

First Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:FGBI) and WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for First Guaranty Bancshares and WesBanco, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Guaranty Bancshares	1	1	0	0	1.50
WesBanco	0	1	4	1	3.00

WesBanco has a consensus target price of $39.60, suggesting a potential upside of 16.40%. Given WesBanco’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe WesBanco is more favorable than First Guaranty Bancshares.

Volatility & Risk

First Guaranty Bancshares has a beta of 0.32, indicating that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WesBanco has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

First Guaranty Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. WesBanco pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. First Guaranty Bancshares pays out -1.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. WesBanco pays out 49.0% 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. WesBanco has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years. WesBanco is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares First Guaranty Bancshares and WesBanco”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Guaranty Bancshares	$221.76 million	0.65	-$56.02 million	($3.88)	-2.35
WesBanco	$1.44 billion	2.27	$223.10 million	$3.10	10.97

WesBanco has higher revenue and earnings than First Guaranty Bancshares. First Guaranty Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WesBanco, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

39.5% of First Guaranty Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.4% of WesBanco shares are held by institutional investors. 47.2% of First Guaranty Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of WesBanco shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares First Guaranty Bancshares and WesBanco’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Guaranty Bancshares	-25.26%	-20.79%	-1.10%
WesBanco	21.12%	9.83%	1.33%

Summary

WesBanco beats First Guaranty Bancshares on 16 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Guaranty Bancshares

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. operates as the holding company for First Guaranty Bank that provides commercial banking services in Louisiana and Texas. It offers various deposit products, including personal and business checking, savings, money market, and demand accounts, as well as time deposits to consumers, small businesses, and municipalities. The company provides loans, such as non-farm, non-residential loans secured by real estate, commercial and industrial loans, one- to four-family residential loans, multifamily loans, construction and land development loans, agricultural loans, farmland loans, and consumer and other loans to small to medium-sized businesses and professionals, and individuals. In addition, it offers a range of consumer services, including credit cards, mobile deposit capture, safe deposit boxes, official checks, online and mobile banking, automated teller machines, and online bill pay; provides additional solutions, such as merchant services, remote deposit capture, and lockbox services to business customers; and invests a portion of its assets in securities issued by the United States Government and its agencies, state and municipal obligations, corporate debt securities, mutual funds, and equity securities, as well as invests in mortgage-backed securities primarily issued or guaranteed by United States Government agencies or enterprises. First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Hammond, Louisiana.

About WesBanco

WesBanco, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for WesBanco Bank, Inc. that provides retail banking, corporate banking, personal and corporate trust, brokerage, mortgage banking, and insurance services to individuals and businesses in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Community Banking, and Trust and Investment Services. It offers commercial demand, individual demand, and time deposit accounts; commercial, mortgage and individual installment loans; retail loans, such as residential real estate mortgage loans, home equity lines of credit, and loans for other consumer purposes; installment loans to finance the purchase of automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, boats, and other recreational vehicles, as well as home equity installment loans, unsecured home improvement loans, and revolving lines of credit; and various non-traditional offerings, such as insurance and securities brokerage services. The company also provides trust services; and various alternative investment products, including mutual funds and annuities. In addition, it acts as an agency that specializes in property, casualty, life, and title insurance, as well as benefit plan sales and administration to personal and commercial clients; provides broker dealer and discount brokerage services; holds investment securities and loans; and holds and leases commercial real estate properties, as well as acts as an investment adviser to a family of mutual funds. WesBanco, Inc. was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Wheeling, West Virginia.