Critical Review: Origin Bancorp (NASDAQ:OBNK) vs. Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:UNB)

Origin Bancorp (NASDAQ:OBNK) and Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:UNB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and dividends.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Origin Bancorp and Union Bankshares’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Origin Bancorp	$347.14 million	3.25	$87.71 million	$3.21	11.43
Union Bankshares	$46.15 million	2.51	$11.26 million	$2.37	10.81

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

Dividends

Origin Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Union Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. Origin Bancorp pays out 18.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Union Bankshares pays out 60.8% 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. Origin Bancorp has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years and Union Bankshares has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years. Union Bankshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Origin Bancorp and Union Bankshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Origin Bancorp	20.47%	10.45%	0.97%
Union Bankshares	15.19%	17.85%	0.76%

Risk & Volatility

Origin Bancorp has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Union Bankshares has a beta of 0.79, indicating that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Origin Bancorp and Union Bankshares, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Origin Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A
Union Bankshares	0	0	0	0	N/A

Institutional & Insider Ownership

47.2% of Origin Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 14.8% of Union Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.2% of Origin Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Union Bankshares shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Origin Bancorp beats Union Bankshares on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Origin Bancorp

Origin Bancorp, Inc. is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of financial services to small and medium-sized businesses, municipalities, high net worth individuals, and retail clients. The firm’s products and services include lending, deposits, mortgage banking, and insurance. It also offers other banking services such as Internet banking and voice response information, mobile applications, cash management, overdraft protection, direct deposit, safe deposit boxes, U.S. savings bonds, and automatic account transfers. The company was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Ruston, LA.

About Union Bankshares

Union Bankshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Union Bank that provides retail, commercial, and municipal banking products and services in northern Vermont and New Hampshire. It offers retail depository services, such as personal checking, savings, money market, IRA/SEP/KEOGH, and health savings accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also provides commercial real estate loans; commercial loans for plant and equipment, working capital, real estate renovation, and other business purposes to business owners and investors; small business administration guaranteed loans; residential construction and mortgage loans; municipal financing, including loans and excess deposits secured by FHLBB letters of credit; and home improvement loans and overdraft checking privileges against preauthorized lines of credit. In addition, it offers online cash management services, including account reconciliation, credit card depository, automated clearing house origination, wire transfers, positive pay and night depository services; merchant credit card services for the deposit and immediate credit of sales drafts; remote deposit capture services; and online mortgage application and consumer deposit account opening services. Further, the company provides business checking accounts; standby letters of credit, bank checks or money orders, and safe deposit boxes; ATM cards and services; debit cards; telephone, internet, and mobile banking services, including bill pay; and wealth management, fiduciary, and trust services. It offers retail banking services to individuals; and commercial banking services to small and medium sized business corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, and sole proprietorships, as well as nonprofit organizations, local municipalities, and school districts. Union Bankshares, Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Morrisville, Vermont.