Head to Head Analysis: Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) vs. United Bancorp (NASDAQ:UBCP)

United Bancorp (NASDAQ:UBCP) and Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, risk and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares United Bancorp and Huntington Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Bancorp	16.39%	12.09%	0.90%
Huntington Bancshares	18.06%	12.14%	1.09%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for United Bancorp and Huntington Bancshares, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Bancorp	0	1	0	0	2.00
Huntington Bancshares	1	4	14	2	2.81

Huntington Bancshares has a consensus target price of $19.92, suggesting a potential upside of 12.59%. Given Huntington Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Huntington Bancshares is more favorable than United Bancorp.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares United Bancorp and Huntington Bancshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Bancorp	$43.98 million	1.86	$7.40 million	$1.30	10.91
Huntington Bancshares	$11.96 billion	2.16	$1.94 billion	$1.43	12.37

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

Volatility and Risk

United Bancorp has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Huntington Bancshares has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

15.4% of United Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.7% of Huntington Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.9% of United Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Huntington Bancshares shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

United Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. Huntington Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. United Bancorp pays out 58.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Huntington Bancshares pays out 43.4% 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 Bancorp has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. United Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Huntington Bancshares beats United Bancorp on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About United Bancorp

United Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Unified Bank that provides commercial and retail banking services in Ohio. The company provides range of banking and financial services, which includes accepting demand, savings, and time deposits. It also offers commercial, real estate and consumer loans. United Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Martins Ferry, Ohio.

About Huntington Bancshares

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated operates as the bank holding company for The Huntington National Bank that provides commercial, consumer, and mortgage banking services in the United States. The company offers financial products and services to consumer and business customers, including deposits, lending, payments, mortgage banking, dealer financing, investment management, trust, brokerage, insurance, and other financial products and services. It also provides 24-hour grace, asterisk-free checking, money scout, $50 safety zone, standby cash, early pay, instant access, savings goal getter, and Huntington heads up; digitally powered consumer and business financial solutions to consumer lending, regional banking, branch banking, and wealth management customers; direct and indirect consumer loans, as well as dealer finance loans and deposits; and private banking, wealth management and legacy planning through investment and portfolio management, fiduciary administration and trust, institutional custody, and full-service retail brokerage investment services. The company offers equipment financing, asset-based lending, distribution finance, structured lending, and municipal financing solutions, as well as Huntington ChoicePay. In addition, it offers lending, liquidity, treasury management and other payment services, and capital markets; government and non-profits, healthcare, technology and telecommunications, franchises, financial sponsors, and global services; and corporate risk management, institutional sales and trading, debt and equity issuance, and additional advisory services. The company offers its products through a network of channels, including branches and ATMs, online and mobile banking, and through customer call centers to customers in middle market banking, corporate, specialty, and government banking, asset finance, commercial real estate banking, and capital markets. The company was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.