First Hawaiian (NASDAQ:FHB) & Malaga Financial (OTCMKTS:MLGF) Head to Head Contrast

Malaga Financial (OTCMKTS:MLGF) and First Hawaiian (NASDAQ:FHB) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

1.2% of Malaga Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.6% of First Hawaiian shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of First Hawaiian shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Malaga Financial has a beta of 0.08, indicating that its stock price is 92% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Hawaiian has a beta of 0.73, indicating that its stock price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Malaga Financial and First Hawaiian, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Malaga Financial	0	0	0	0	0.00
First Hawaiian	3	6	0	0	1.67

First Hawaiian has a consensus target price of $27.50, suggesting a potential upside of 9.69%. Given First Hawaiian’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe First Hawaiian is more favorable than Malaga Financial.

Profitability

This table compares Malaga Financial and First Hawaiian’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Malaga Financial	N/A	N/A	N/A
First Hawaiian	23.65%	10.19%	1.16%

Dividends

Malaga Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. First Hawaiian pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Malaga Financial pays out 45.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Hawaiian pays out 47.3% 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. Malaga Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Malaga Financial and First Hawaiian”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Malaga Financial	N/A	N/A	$21.55 million	$2.18	10.09
First Hawaiian	$1.17 billion	2.65	$276.27 million	$2.20	11.40

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

Summary

First Hawaiian beats Malaga Financial on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Malaga Financial

Malaga Financial Corporation operates as the holding company for Malaga Bank that provides various community banking products and services to personal and business customers. It offers checking, savings, NOW, and money market accounts, certificates of deposits, business banking, consumer, and demand deposits. The company also provides commercial real estate, single and multi-family residential mortgage, consumer, 14-unit investment property, construction, personal, and business loans; home equity lines of credit; and certificates of deposit. In addition, it offers coupon redemption, direct deposit, overdraft lines of credit, telephone transfers, U.S. savings bond redemption, and wire transfer services; and ATM and VISA debit cards, bank by mail, medallion signature guarantee, night depository, notary, safe deposit boxes, and trust deed note collection services. Further, the company provides online banking services, including bill payer, e-statements, and mobile banking services. The company was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Palos Verdes Estates, California.

About First Hawaiian

First Hawaiian, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for First Hawaiian Bank that provides a range of banking products and services to consumer and commercial customers in the United States. It operates in three segments: Retail Banking, Commercial Banking, and Treasury and Other. The company offers various deposit products, including checking, savings, and time deposit accounts, and other deposit accounts. It also provides residential and commercial mortgage loans, home equity lines of credit and loans, automobile loans and leases, secured and unsecured lines of credit, installment loans, small business loans and leases, and construction lending, as well as commercial lease and auto dealer financing. In addition, the company offers wealth management, personal installment, individual investment and financial planning, insurance protection, trust and estate, private banking, investment management, retirement planning, and merchant processing services, as well as consumer and commercial credit cards. The company was formerly known as BancWest Corporation and changed its name to First Hawaiian, Inc. in April 2016. First Hawaiian, Inc. was founded in 1858 and is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii.