Head to Head Analysis: Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) & PCB Bancorp (NASDAQ:PCB)

PCB Bancorp (NASDAQ:PCB) and Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and institutional ownership.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares PCB Bancorp and Hilltop”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PCB Bancorp	$209.37 million	1.85	$37.45 million	$2.89	9.56
Hilltop	$1.63 billion	1.29	$165.59 million	$2.70	13.54

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

33.0% of PCB Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.1% of Hilltop shares are owned by institutional investors. 27.0% of PCB Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of Hilltop 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.

Profitability

This table compares PCB Bancorp and Hilltop’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PCB Bancorp	19.65%	12.91%	1.24%
Hilltop	10.17%	7.40%	1.02%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for PCB Bancorp and Hilltop, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PCB Bancorp	0	3	0	1	2.50
Hilltop	1	3	1	1	2.33

PCB Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $27.75, suggesting a potential upside of 0.43%. Hilltop has a consensus price target of $40.00, suggesting a potential upside of 9.39%. Given Hilltop’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Hilltop is more favorable than PCB Bancorp.

Dividends

PCB Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Hilltop pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. PCB Bancorp pays out 30.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hilltop pays out 32.6% 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. PCB Bancorp has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years and Hilltop has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years. PCB Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Risk and Volatility

PCB Bancorp has a beta of 0.52, meaning that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hilltop has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

PCB Bancorp beats Hilltop on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About PCB Bancorp

PCB Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for PCB Bank that provides various banking products and services to small to medium-sized businesses, individuals, and professionals in Southern California. The company offers demand, savings, money market, and time deposits, as well as certificates of deposit; and trade finance, remote deposit capture, courier deposit services, positive pay services, zero balance accounts, and sweep accounts. It also provides real estate loans, including commercial and residential, Small Business Administration (SBA) property, and construction loans; commercial and industrial loans, such as commercial term and lines of credit, SBA commercial term, and SBA Paycheck Protection Program loans; and consumer loans comprising residential mortgage; and automobile loans, unsecured lines of credit, and term loans. In addition, the company offers access to account balances, online transfers, and online bill payment and electronic delivery of customer statements; and mobile banking solutions that include remote check deposit and mobile bill pay. Further, it provides automated teller machines; and banking by telephone, mail, personal appointment, debit cards, direct deposit, and cashier's checks, as well as treasury management, wire transfer, and automated clearing house services. The company operates through a network of full-service branches in Los Angeles and Orange counties, California; Carrollton and Dallas, Texas; and Englewood Cliffs and Palisade Park, New Jersey, and Bayside, New York. It also operates loan production offices in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, California; Annandale, Virginia; Atlanta, Georgia; Bellevue, Washington; Aurora, Colorado; and Carrollton, Texas. The company was formerly known as Pacific City Financial Corporation and changed its name to PCB Bancorp in July 2019. PCB Bancorp was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

About Hilltop

Hilltop Holdings Inc. provides business and consumer banking services. It operates through three segments: Banking, Broker-Dealer, and Mortgage Origination. The Banking segment offers savings, checking, interest-bearing checking, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; lines and letters of credit, home improvement and equity loans, loans for purchasing and carrying securities, term, agricultural and commercial real estate, equipment loans, and other lending products; and mortgage, commercial and industrial loans, and term and construction finance. It also provides treasury management, asset management, check cards, safe deposit boxes, online banking, bill pay, and overdraft privilege services; and estate planning, management and administration, investment portfolio management, employee benefit accounts, and individual retirement accounts services, as well as automated teller machines. The Broker-Dealer segment offers public finance services that assist public entities in originating, syndicating, and distributing securities of municipalities and political subdivisions; specialized advisory and investment banking services; advice and guidance to arbitrage rebate compliance, portfolio management, and local government investment pool administration; advisory services and products for derivatives and commodities; agricultural insurance; and sells, trades in, and underwrites U.S. government and government agency bonds, corporate bonds, and municipal bonds; mortgage-backed, asset-backed, and commercial mortgage-backed securities and structured products; and provides asset and liability management advisory, clearing, retail, and securities lending services. The Mortgage Origination segment offers fixed and adjustable rate mortgages, jumbo, new construction, Federal Housing Administration, Veterans Affairs, and United States Department of Agriculture loans. Hilltop Holdings Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is based in Dallas, Texas.