Financial Contrast: ACNB (ACNB) and Its Peers

ACNB (NASDAQ:ACNB) is one of 920 public companies in the “Banks” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare ACNB to similar companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for ACNB and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ACNB	0	2	2	0	2.50
ACNB Competitors	7450	30146	27697	1450	2.35

ACNB currently has a consensus price target of $64.50, suggesting a potential downside of 1.38%. As a group, “Banks” companies have a potential upside of 17.37%. Given ACNB’s peers higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe ACNB has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Risk & Volatility

ACNB has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ACNB’s peers have a beta of 0.60, suggesting that their average stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares ACNB and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ACNB	27.16%	13.87%	1.79%
ACNB Competitors	15.38%	9.45%	0.93%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares ACNB and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
ACNB	$191.82 million	$37.05 million	12.11
ACNB Competitors	$9.88 billion	$2.41 billion	19.07

ACNB’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than ACNB. ACNB is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Dividends

ACNB pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. ACNB pays out 31.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Banks” companies pay a dividend yield of 9.5% and pay out 28.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. ACNB has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years. ACNB lags its peers as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

32.4% of ACNB shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.9% of shares of all “Banks” companies are owned by institutional investors. 3.7% of ACNB shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.8% of shares of all “Banks” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

ACNB peers beat ACNB on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

ACNB Company Profile

ACNB Corporation, a financial holding company, offers banking, insurance, and financial services to individual, business, and government customers in the United States. The company provides checking, savings, and money market deposit accounts, as well as time deposits and debit cards. It also offers commercial lending products, such as commercial mortgages, real estate development and construction loans, accounts receivable and inventory financing, and agricultural and governmental loans; consumer lending products, including home equity loans and lines of credit, automobile and recreational vehicle loans, manufactured housing loans, and personal lines of credit; and mortgage lending programs include personal residential mortgages, and residential construction and investment mortgage loans. In addition, the company provides other services that are related to testamentary trusts, life insurance trusts, charitable remainder trusts, guardianships, powers of attorney, custodial accounts, and investment management and advisory accounts; and retail brokerage services. Further, it acts as a trustee to invest in, protect, manage, and distribute financial assets. Additionally, the company offers property and casualty, health, life, and disability insurance products to commercial and personal clients; and online, telephone, and mobile banking, as well as automated teller machine services. ACNB Corporation was founded in 1857 and is headquartered in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.