Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) versus Surrey Bancorp (OTCMKTS:SRYB) Head to Head Analysis

Surrey Bancorp (OTCMKTS:SRYB) and Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Surrey Bancorp and Hancock Whitney’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Surrey Bancorp	37.97%	N/A	N/A
Hancock Whitney	19.07%	11.89%	1.22%

Risk & Volatility

Surrey Bancorp has a beta of 0.65, suggesting that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hancock Whitney has a beta of 1.31, suggesting that its stock price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Surrey Bancorp and Hancock Whitney, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Surrey Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A
Hancock Whitney	0	3	4	0	2.57

Hancock Whitney has a consensus target price of $51.43, suggesting a potential upside of 7.23%. Given Hancock Whitney’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Hancock Whitney is more favorable than Surrey Bancorp.

Dividends

Surrey Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Hancock Whitney pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Surrey Bancorp pays out 31.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hancock Whitney pays out 28.0% 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. Hancock Whitney has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

3.7% of Surrey Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.2% of Hancock Whitney shares are held by institutional investors. 33.7% of Surrey Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Hancock Whitney shares are held 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Surrey Bancorp and Hancock Whitney’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Surrey Bancorp	$16.20 million	4.23	$5.10 million	$1.52	10.99
Hancock Whitney	$1.91 billion	2.17	$392.60 million	$4.29	11.18

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

Summary

Hancock Whitney beats Surrey Bancorp on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Surrey Bancorp

Surrey BanCorp engages in the provision of banking solutions through its subsidiaries, Surrey Bank & Trust . It offers checking accounts, savings, deposit services, mortgages, real estate loans, commercial credit products, business checking, and electronic banking. The company was founded on May 1, 2003 and is headquartered in Mount Airy, NC.

About Hancock Whitney

Hancock Whitney Corporation operates as the financial holding company for Hancock Whitney Bank that provides traditional and online banking services to commercial, small business, and retail customers. It offers various transaction and savings deposit products consisting of brokered deposits, time deposits, and money market accounts; treasury management services, secured and unsecured loan products including revolving credit facilities, and letters of credit and similar financial guarantees; and trust and investment management services to retirement plans, corporations, and individuals, and investment advisory and brokerage products. The company also provides commercial and industrial loans including real and non-real estate loans; construction and land development loans; and residential mortgages, as well as consumer loans. In addition, it offers commercial finance products to middle market and corporate clients, including leases and related structures; facilitates investments in new market tax credit activities and holding certain foreclosed assets; provides customers access to fixed annuity and life insurance products; and underwriting transactions products, as well as debt and mortgage-related securities. The company was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Gulfport, Mississippi.