Comparing City (NASDAQ:CHCO) & Beacon Financial (NYSE:BBT)

Beacon Financial (NYSE:BBT) and City (NASDAQ:CHCO) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Beacon Financial and City, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Beacon Financial	0	4	3	0	2.43
City	0	3	0	1	2.50

Beacon Financial currently has a consensus target price of $32.50, suggesting a potential upside of 3.64%. City has a consensus target price of $136.50, suggesting a potential downside of 4.98%. Given Beacon Financial’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Beacon Financial is more favorable than City.

Volatility & Risk

Beacon Financial has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, City has a beta of 0.48, indicating that its share price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

83.1% of Beacon Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.4% of City shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Beacon Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of City shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Beacon Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.29 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. City pays an annual dividend of $3.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Beacon Financial pays out 97.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. City pays out 38.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. City has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Beacon Financial and City”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Beacon Financial	$882.68 million	2.98	$90.27 million	$1.32	23.76
City	$398.98 million	5.06	$130.49 million	$9.14	15.72

City has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Beacon Financial. City is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Beacon Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Beacon Financial and City’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Beacon Financial	8.96%	9.15%	1.01%
City	32.58%	16.34%	1.95%

Summary

City beats Beacon Financial on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Beacon Financial

Truist Financial Corp. operates as a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services to individuals, businesses and municipalities. The firm offers a variety of loans and lease financing to individuals and entities, including insurance premium financing, permanent commercial real estate financing arrangements, loan servicing for third-party investors, direct consumer finance loans to individuals, credit card lending, automobile financing and equipment financing. It also markets a range of other services, including deposits, life insurance, property and casualty insurance, health Truist Financial Corp. operates as a financial holding company. It engages in the provision of banking services to individuals, businesses and municipalities. The company operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking and Wealth; Corporate and Commercial Banking; and Insurance Holdings. The firm offers a variety of loans and lease financing to individuals and entities, including insurance premium financing, permanent commercial real estate financing arrangements, loan servicing for third-party investors, direct consumer finance loans to individuals, credit card lending, automobile financing and equipment financing. It also markets a range of other services, including deposits, life insurance, property and casualty insurance, health insurance and commercial general liability insurance on an agency basis and through a wholesale insurance brokerage operation, merchant services, trust and retirement services, comprehensive wealth advisory services, asset management and capital markets services. The company was founded on December 6, 2019 and is headquartered in Charlotte, NC. insurance and commercial general liability insurance on an agency basis and through a wholesale insurance brokerage operation, merchant services, trust and retirement services, comprehensive wealth advisory services, asset management and capital markets services. The company was founded on December 6, 2019 and is headquartered in Charlotte, NC.

About City

City Holding Company operates as a holding company for City National Bank of West Virginia that provides various banking, trust, and investment management, and other financial solutions in the United States. The company offers checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit and individual retirement accounts. It also provides commercial and industrial loans that consist of loans to corporate and other legal entity borrowers primarily in small to mid-size industrial and commercial companies; commercial real estate loans comprising commercial mortgages, which are secured by nonresidential and multi-family residential properties; residential real estate loans to consumers for the purchase or refinance of residence; first-priority home equity loans; home equity lines of credit; amortized home equity loans; consumer loans that are secured and unsecured by automobiles, boats, recreational vehicles, certificates of deposit, and other personal property; and demand deposit account overdrafts, as well as owner-occupied real estate and construction, land development, and lines of credit. In addition, the company offers mortgage banking services, including fixed and adjustable-rate mortgages, construction financing, land loans, production of conventional and government-insured mortgages, secondary marketing, and mortgage servicing. Further, it provides deposit services for commercial customers comprising treasury management, lockbox, and other cash management services; merchant credit card services; wealth management, trust, investment, and custodial services for commercial and individual customers; and corporate trust and institutional custody, financial and estate planning, and retirement plan services, as well as automated-teller-machine, interactive-teller-machine, mobile banking, interactive voice response systems, and credit and debit card services. City Holding Company was founded in 1957 and is headquartered in Charleston, West Virginia.