Analyzing United Bancorp (UBCP) and Its Rivals

United Bancorp (NASDAQ:UBCP) is one of 919 publicly-traded companies in the “Banks” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare United Bancorp to similar companies based on the strength of its earnings, risk, valuation, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Dividends

United Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.79 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. United Bancorp pays out 61.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Banks” companies pay a dividend yield of 8.9% and pay out 28.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. United Bancorp has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. United Bancorp lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Risk and Volatility

United Bancorp has a beta of 0.3, indicating that its stock price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Bancorp’s competitors have a beta of 0.61, indicating that their average stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for United Bancorp and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Bancorp	0	1	0	0	2.00
United Bancorp Competitors	7490	30232	27819	1480	2.35

As a group, “Banks” companies have a potential upside of 14.28%. Given United Bancorp’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe United Bancorp has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares United Bancorp and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Bancorp	$47.51 million	$7.75 million	11.28
United Bancorp Competitors	$9.95 billion	$2.42 billion	21.49

United Bancorp’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than United Bancorp. United Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares United Bancorp and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Bancorp	16.55%	11.53%	0.92%
United Bancorp Competitors	15.65%	9.43%	0.93%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

15.4% of United Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.8% of shares of all “Banks” companies are held by institutional investors. 13.9% of United Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.7% of shares of all “Banks” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

United Bancorp competitors beat United Bancorp on 12 of the 15 factors compared.

United Bancorp Company Profile

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.