Analyzing Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) and Kentucky Bancshares (OTCMKTS:KTYB)

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) and Kentucky Bancshares (OTCMKTS:KTYB) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Hancock Whitney and Kentucky Bancshares, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hancock Whitney	0	1	7	2	3.10
Kentucky Bancshares	0	0	0	0	0.00

Hancock Whitney presently has a consensus target price of $75.63, indicating a potential upside of 20.31%. Given Hancock Whitney’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Hancock Whitney is more favorable than Kentucky Bancshares.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Hancock Whitney and Kentucky Bancshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hancock Whitney	$1.51 billion	3.48	$486.07 million	$5.68	11.07
Kentucky Bancshares	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Hancock Whitney has higher revenue and earnings than Kentucky Bancshares.

Profitability

This table compares Hancock Whitney and Kentucky Bancshares’ 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%
Kentucky Bancshares	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional and Insider Ownership

81.2% of Hancock Whitney shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Hancock Whitney shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.7% of Kentucky Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Hancock Whitney beats Kentucky Bancshares on 9 of the 10 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 Kentucky Bancshares

Kentucky Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Kentucky Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking products and services. It accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, and money market accounts; and certificates of deposit, safe deposits, interest and noninterest bearing deposits, and time deposits. The company also offers commercial, agricultural, and real estate loans to small-to-medium-sized industrial, service, and agricultural businesses; and residential mortgages, installments, and other loans to individual and other non-commercial customers. In addition, it provides credit cards and other consumer-oriented financial services; brokerage services, annuities, life and long-term care insurance, personal trust, and agency services; and Internet banking services, such as bill payment. The company has operations in Bourbon, Clark, Elliott, Fayette, Harrison, Jessamine, Madison, Rowan, Scott, Woodford, and other counties in Kentucky. Kentucky Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Paris, Kentucky.