United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCB – Get Free Report) and Glacier Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBCI – Get Free Report) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.
Profitability
This table compares United Community Banks and Glacier Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| United Community Banks | 16.48% | 8.64% | 1.04% |
| Glacier Bancorp | 14.99% | 5.98% | 0.68% |
Risk and Volatility
United Community Banks has a beta of 0.86, indicating that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Glacier Bancorp has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings & Valuation
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| United Community Banks | $952.89 million | 4.00 | $252.40 million | $2.20 | 14.27 |
| Glacier Bancorp | $877.23 million | 6.67 | $190.14 million | $1.92 | 25.72 |
United Community Banks has higher revenue and earnings than Glacier Bancorp. United Community Banks is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Glacier Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
82.3% of United Community Banks shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.2% of Glacier Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of United Community Banks shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Glacier Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Dividends
United Community Banks pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Glacier Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. United Community Banks pays out 45.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Glacier Bancorp pays out 68.8% 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. United Community Banks is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for United Community Banks and Glacier Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| United Community Banks | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 2.43 |
| Glacier Bancorp | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2.71 |
United Community Banks currently has a consensus target price of $34.57, suggesting a potential upside of 10.14%. Glacier Bancorp has a consensus target price of $50.50, suggesting a potential upside of 2.28%. Given United Community Banks’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe United Community Banks is more favorable than Glacier Bancorp.
Summary
United Community Banks beats Glacier Bancorp on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.
About United Community Banks
United Community Banks, Inc. operates as the financial holding company for United Community Bank that provides financial products and services to commercial, retail, government, education, energy, health care, and real estate sectors. It accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts. The company also offers lending services, including real estate, consumer, and commercial loans, to individuals, small businesses, mid-sized commercial businesses, and non-profit organizations, as well as secured and unsecured, and mortgage loans. In addition, it originates loans partially guaranteed by the SBA and USDA loan programs. Further, the company provides wealth management services comprising financial planning, customized portfolio management, and investment advice; trust services to manage fiduciary assets; non-deposit investment products; and insurance products, including life insurance, long-term care insurance, and tax-deferred annuities, as well as invests in residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, the U.S. treasury, the U.S. agency, and municipal obligations. Additionally, it offers reinsurance on a property insurance contract; insurance agency services; treasury management; credit cards; payment and commerce solution, equipment finance, investment advisory, and other related financial services; brokerage services; and payment processing, merchant, wire transfer, private banking, and other related financial services. The company was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Blairsville, Georgia.
About Glacier Bancorp
Glacier Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Glacier Bank that provides commercial banking services to individuals, small to medium-sized businesses, community organizations, and public entities in the United States. The company offers retail banking, business banking, and mortgage origination and loan servicing services. It also provides non-interest bearing deposit and interest bearing deposit accounts, such as negotiable order of withdrawal and demand deposit accounts, savings, money market deposits, fixed rate certificates of deposit, negotiated-rate jumbo certificates, and individual retirement accounts. In addition, the company offers construction and permanent loans on residential real estate; consumer land or lot loans; unimproved land and land development loans; and residential builder guidance lines comprising pre-sold and spec-home construction, and lot acquisition loans. Further, it provides commercial real estate loans to purchase, construct, and finance commercial real estate properties; consumer loans secured by real estate, automobiles, or other assets; home equity loans consisting of junior lien mortgages, and first and junior lien lines of credit secured by owner-occupied 1-4 family residences; and agriculture loans. Glacier Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Kalispell, Montana.
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