Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) and QCR (NASDAQ:QCRH) Critical Survey

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) and QCR (NASDAQ:QCRH) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Huntington Bancshares and QCR, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Huntington Bancshares	1	4	14	1	2.75
QCR	0	2	4	0	2.67

Huntington Bancshares presently has a consensus target price of $20.05, suggesting a potential upside of 29.27%. QCR has a consensus target price of $101.00, suggesting a potential upside of 13.66%. Given Huntington Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Huntington Bancshares is more favorable than QCR.

Volatility & Risk

Huntington Bancshares has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, QCR has a beta of 0.77, meaning that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Huntington Bancshares and QCR’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Huntington Bancshares	16.63%	11.42%	1.11%
QCR	21.98%	12.54%	1.44%

Dividends

Huntington Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. QCR pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Huntington Bancshares pays out 47.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. QCR pays out 5.0% 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Huntington Bancshares and QCR”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Huntington Bancshares	$12.49 billion	2.52	$2.21 billion	$1.30	11.93
QCR	$603.75 million	2.43	$127.19 million	$7.98	11.14

Huntington Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than QCR. QCR is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Huntington Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

80.7% of Huntington Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.0% of QCR shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Huntington Bancshares shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.2% of QCR shares are held 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.

Summary

Huntington Bancshares beats QCR on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Huntington Bancshares

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated operates as the bank holding company for The Huntington National Bank that provides commercial, consumer, and mortgage banking services in the United States. The company offers financial products and services to consumer and business customers, including deposits, lending, payments, mortgage banking, dealer financing, investment management, trust, brokerage, insurance, and other financial products and services. It also provides 24-hour grace, asterisk-free checking, money scout, $50 safety zone, standby cash, early pay, instant access, savings goal getter, and Huntington heads up; digitally powered consumer and business financial solutions to consumer lending, regional banking, branch banking, and wealth management customers; direct and indirect consumer loans, as well as dealer finance loans and deposits; and private banking, wealth management and legacy planning through investment and portfolio management, fiduciary administration and trust, institutional custody, and full-service retail brokerage investment services. The company offers equipment financing, asset-based lending, distribution finance, structured lending, and municipal financing solutions, as well as Huntington ChoicePay. In addition, it offers lending, liquidity, treasury management and other payment services, and capital markets; government and non-profits, healthcare, technology and telecommunications, franchises, financial sponsors, and global services; and corporate risk management, institutional sales and trading, debt and equity issuance, and additional advisory services. The company offers its products through a network of channels, including branches and ATMs, online and mobile banking, and through customer call centers to customers in middle market banking, corporate, specialty, and government banking, asset finance, commercial real estate banking, and capital markets. The company was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

About QCR

QCR Holdings, Inc., a multi-bank holding company, provides commercial and consumer banking, and trust and asset management services. The company’s deposit products include noninterest-bearing demand, interest-bearing demand, time, and brokered deposits. It also provides various commercial and retail lending/leasing, and investment services to corporations, partnerships, individuals, and government agencies. The company’s loan portfolio comprises loans to small and mid-sized businesses; business loans, including lines of credit for working capital and operational purposes; term loans for the acquisition of facilities, equipment, and other purposes; commercial and residential real estate loans; and installment and other consumer loans, such as home improvement, home equity, motor vehicle, and signature loans, as well as small personal credit lines. In addition, it engages in leasing of machinery and equipment to commercial and industrial businesses under direct financing lease contracts; and issuance of trust preferred securities. QCR Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in Moline, Illinois.