Head-To-Head Survey: Societe Generale Group (OTCMKTS:SCGLY) versus Byline Bancorp (NYSE:BY)

Societe Generale Group (OTCMKTS:SCGLY) and Byline Bancorp (NYSE:BY) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Societe Generale Group and Byline Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Societe Generale Group	0	5	3	1	2.56
Byline Bancorp	0	3	3	1	2.71

Byline Bancorp has a consensus price target of $43.50, suggesting a potential upside of 10.94%. Given Byline Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Byline Bancorp is more favorable than Societe Generale Group.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

1.0% of Societe Generale Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.7% of Byline Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 29.1% of Byline Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Societe Generale Group and Byline Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Societe Generale Group	$30.83 billion	1.78	$6.79 billion	$2.06	7.20
Byline Bancorp	$633.15 million	2.76	$130.05 million	$3.43	11.43

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

Risk and Volatility

Societe Generale Group has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Byline Bancorp has a beta of 0.72, indicating that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Societe Generale Group pays an annual dividend of $0.22 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Byline Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Societe Generale Group pays out 10.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Byline Bancorp pays out 16.3% 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. Byline Bancorp has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Societe Generale Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Societe Generale Group and Byline Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Societe Generale Group	24.17%	7.57%	0.38%
Byline Bancorp	24.06%	12.06%	1.57%

Summary

Byline Bancorp beats Societe Generale Group on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Societe Generale Group

Societe Generale Group is a French banking and financial services company founded in 1864. It provides services to individuals, businesses, institutional investors and public-sector clients. The group’s activities include retail and private banking, corporate and investment banking, insurance, wealth management, securities services and specialized financing. It also offers services related to vehicle leasing and mobility. Based in France, Societe Generale serves clients internationally, with operations across Europe and other regions, including Africa.

About Byline Bancorp

Byline Bancorp is a bank holding company whose principal subsidiary, Byline Bank, provides banking and financial services to businesses, individuals and organizations. Its offerings include business and personal deposit accounts, lending, cash management and other banking services. The bank focuses on commercial banking, including commercial real estate and small-business lending, and also offers services such as treasury management and wealth management. It serves customers primarily in the Chicago metropolitan area and elsewhere in Illinois, with a presence in Wisconsin.