Financial Survey: Origin Bancorp (NASDAQ:OBK) and United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCB)

Origin Bancorp (NASDAQ:OBK) and United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCB) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, dividends and earnings.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

54.7% of Origin Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.3% of United Community Banks shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.4% of Origin Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of United Community Banks shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Origin Bancorp has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Community Banks has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Origin Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. United Community Banks pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Origin Bancorp pays out 26.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. United Community Banks pays out 43.6% 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.

Profitability

This table compares Origin Bancorp and United Community Banks’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Origin Bancorp	12.34%	6.91%	0.77%
United Community Banks	16.48%	8.64%	1.04%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Origin Bancorp and United Community Banks, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Origin Bancorp	0	0	5	0	3.00
United Community Banks	0	4	3	0	2.43

Origin Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $43.20, suggesting a potential upside of 14.40%. United Community Banks has a consensus target price of $34.57, suggesting a potential upside of 10.83%. Given Origin Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Origin Bancorp is more favorable than United Community Banks.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Origin Bancorp and United Community Banks”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Origin Bancorp	$358.20 million	3.28	$76.49 million	$2.24	16.86
United Community Banks	$952.89 million	3.98	$252.40 million	$2.20	14.18

United Community Banks has higher revenue and earnings than Origin Bancorp. United Community Banks is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Origin Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

About Origin Bancorp

Origin Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Origin Bank that provides banking and financial services to small and medium-sized businesses, municipalities, and retail clients in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. It offers noninterest and interest-bearing checking accounts, savings deposits, money market accounts, and time deposits; and offers commercial real estate, construction and land development, consumer, residential real estate, commercial and industrial, mortgage warehouse, and residential mortgage loans. The company also offers personal and commercial property, and casualty insurance products; and Internet banking and voice response information, mobile applications, cash management, overdraft protection, direct deposit, safe deposit boxes, U.S. savings bonds, and automatic account transfer services; and mobile and online banking, treasury management, mortgage origination and servicing facilities, peer-to-peer electronic pay solutions, and personal financial management solutions. The company was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Ruston, Louisiana.

About United Community Banks

United Community Banks, Inc. operates as the financial holding company for United Community Bank that provides financial products and services to commercial, retail, government, education, energy, health care, and real estate sectors. It accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts. The company also offers lending services, including real estate, consumer, and commercial loans, to individuals, small businesses, mid-sized commercial businesses, and non-profit organizations, as well as secured and unsecured, and mortgage loans. In addition, it originates loans partially guaranteed by the SBA and USDA loan programs. Further, the company provides wealth management services comprising financial planning, customized portfolio management, and investment advice; trust services to manage fiduciary assets; non-deposit investment products; and insurance products, including life insurance, long-term care insurance, and tax-deferred annuities, as well as invests in residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, the U.S. treasury, the U.S. agency, and municipal obligations. Additionally, it offers reinsurance on a property insurance contract; insurance agency services; treasury management; credit cards; payment and commerce solution, equipment finance, investment advisory, and other related financial services; brokerage services; and payment processing, merchant, wire transfer, private banking, and other related financial services. The company was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Blairsville, Georgia.