Reviewing Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:GNTY) and Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT)

Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:GNTY) and Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Guaranty Bancshares and Fulton Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Guaranty Bancshares	0	2	1	0	2.33
Fulton Financial	0	3	2	0	2.40

Guaranty Bancshares presently has a consensus target price of $36.67, indicating a potential upside of 6.65%. Fulton Financial has a consensus target price of $19.50, indicating a potential downside of 0.86%. Given Guaranty Bancshares’ higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Guaranty Bancshares is more favorable than Fulton Financial.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

39.4% of Guaranty Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.0% of Fulton Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 26.4% of Guaranty Bancshares shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Fulton Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Guaranty Bancshares and Fulton Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Guaranty Bancshares	15.01%	8.86%	0.88%
Fulton Financial	16.37%	11.33%	1.05%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Guaranty Bancshares and Fulton Financial”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Guaranty Bancshares	$112.33 million	3.50	$30.04 million	$2.39	14.38
Fulton Financial	$1.13 billion	3.18	$284.28 million	$1.58	12.45

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

Dividends

Guaranty Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Fulton Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Guaranty Bancshares pays out 40.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Fulton Financial pays out 43.0% 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.

Risk and Volatility

Guaranty Bancshares has a beta of 0.6, indicating that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fulton Financial has a beta of 0.78, indicating that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Fulton Financial beats Guaranty Bancshares on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Guaranty Bancshares

Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Guaranty Bank & Trust, N.A. that provides a range of commercial and consumer banking products and services for small- and medium-sized businesses, professionals, and individuals. The company offers checking and savings, money market, and business accounts, as well as certificates of deposit; and commercial and industrial, construction and development, 1-4 family residential, commercial real estate, farmland, agricultural, multi-family residential, and consumer loans. It also provides trustee, custodial and escrow, investment management, retirement plan, ATM, night depository, direct deposit, and cashier's check services, as well as online and mobile banking services; debit cards; letters of credit; and treasury management services, including wire transfer, positive pay, remote deposit capture, and automated clearinghouse services. Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1913 and is headquartered in Addison, Texas.

About Fulton Financial

Fulton Financial Corporation operates as a financial holding company that provides consumer and commercial banking products and services in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia. It accepts various checking accounts and savings deposit products, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts. The company offers consumer loans products, including home equity loans and lines of credit, automobile loans, personal lines of credit, and checking account overdraft protection; construction and jumbo residential mortgage loans; and commercial lending products comprising commercial real estate, commercial and industrial, and construction loans, as well as equipment lease financing loans. In addition, it offers letters of credit, cash management services, and traditional deposit products; and wealth management services, including investment management, trust, brokerage, insurance, and investment advisory services. Further, the company owns trust preferred securities; and sells various life insurance products. It provides its products and services through financial center offices, as well as through a network of automated teller machines, telephone banking, mobile banking, and online banking. Fulton Financial Corporation was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.