Head to Head Survey: Prime Meridian (OTCMKTS:PMHG) vs. Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC)

Prime Meridian (OTCMKTS:PMHG) and Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Prime Meridian and Hancock Whitney’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Prime Meridian	15.49%	9.13%	0.87%
Hancock Whitney	24.05%	11.16%	1.39%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Prime Meridian and Hancock Whitney, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Prime Meridian	0	0	0	0	0.00
Hancock Whitney	0	1	7	2	3.10

Hancock Whitney has a consensus price target of $75.63, suggesting a potential upside of 20.86%. Given Hancock Whitney’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Hancock Whitney is more favorable than Prime Meridian.

Dividends

Prime Meridian pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Hancock Whitney pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Prime Meridian pays out 40.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hancock Whitney pays out 35.2% 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. Hancock Whitney has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Hancock Whitney is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

11.8% of Prime Meridian shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.2% of Hancock Whitney shares are owned by institutional investors. 25.9% of Prime Meridian shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Hancock Whitney shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Prime Meridian	$50.36 million	3.92	$8.49 million	$2.48	23.39
Hancock Whitney	$1.51 billion	3.47	$486.07 million	$5.68	11.02

Hancock Whitney has higher revenue and earnings than Prime Meridian. Hancock Whitney is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Prime Meridian, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Prime Meridian has a beta of 0.06, suggesting that its stock price is 94% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hancock Whitney has a beta of 1.05, suggesting that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Hancock Whitney beats Prime Meridian on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Prime Meridian

Prime Meridian Holding Company operates as the bank holding company for Prime Meridian Bank that provides various consumer and commercial banking services to individuals and businesses. The company accepts various deposits, such as checking, money market, savings, term certificate of deposit, demand interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing, health savings, NOW, and escrow accounts, as well as retirement savings plans and time deposits. Its loan products include commercial real estate, residential real estate and home equity, small business administration, construction, equipment, and commercial loans; and consumer and other loans comprising financing of automobiles, boats, and recreational vehicles, as well as issues standby letters and business lines of credit. The company also offers debit and credit cards; mobile banking, remote and mobile deposit, Apple Pay, bank-to-bank transfer, and online banking services; and safe deposit, wire transfer, foreign exchange, direct deposits, notary, night depository, official checks, domestic collections, bank drafts, automated teller services, drive-in tellers, merchant card, and banking by mail services, as well as invests in securities. Prime Meridian Holding Company was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida.

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.