Reviewing United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) and WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC)

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) and WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings and dividends.

Risk and Volatility

United Community Banks has a beta of 0.83, indicating that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WesBanco has a beta of 0.87, indicating that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares United Community Banks and WesBanco’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Community Banks	17.93%	8.91%	1.09%
WesBanco	11.65%	7.29%	1.00%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

82.3% of United Community Banks shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.4% of WesBanco shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of United Community Banks shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of WesBanco shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares United Community Banks and WesBanco”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Community Banks	$952.89 million	3.98	$252.40 million	$2.20	14.18
WesBanco	$953.62 million	3.09	$151.51 million	$1.66	18.48

United Community Banks has higher earnings, but lower revenue than WesBanco. United Community Banks is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WesBanco, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

United Community Banks pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. WesBanco pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. United Community Banks pays out 45.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. WesBanco pays out 89.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. WesBanco has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years. WesBanco is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for United Community Banks and WesBanco, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Community Banks	0	1	0	0	2.00
WesBanco	0	2	3	1	2.83

WesBanco has a consensus price target of $38.8333, suggesting a potential upside of 26.62%. Given WesBanco’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe WesBanco is more favorable than United Community Banks.

Summary

WesBanco beats United Community Banks on 10 of the 18 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. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts. It 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, the company originate loans partially guaranteed by the SBA and USDA loan programs. Further, it 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, the company offers reinsurance on a property insurance contract; insurance agency services; brokerage services; and payment processing, merchant, wire transfer, private banking, and other related financial services. It operates through a network of 171 branches in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. United Community Banks, Inc. was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Blairsville, Georgia.

About WesBanco

WesBanco, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for WesBanco Bank, Inc. that provides retail banking, corporate banking, personal and corporate trust, brokerage, mortgage banking, and insurance services to individuals and businesses in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Community Banking, and Trust and Investment Services. It offers commercial demand, individual demand, and time deposit accounts; commercial, mortgage and individual installment loans; retail loans, such as residential real estate mortgage loans, home equity lines of credit, and loans for other consumer purposes; installment loans to finance the purchase of automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, boats, and other recreational vehicles, as well as home equity installment loans, unsecured home improvement loans, and revolving lines of credit; and various non-traditional offerings, such as insurance and securities brokerage services. The company also provides trust services; and various alternative investment products, including mutual funds and annuities. In addition, it acts as an agency that specializes in property, casualty, life, and title insurance, as well as benefit plan sales and administration to personal and commercial clients; provides broker dealer and discount brokerage services; holds investment securities and loans; and holds and leases commercial real estate properties, as well as acts as an investment adviser to a family of mutual funds. WesBanco, Inc. was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Wheeling, West Virginia.