United Bancorp (NASDAQ:UBCP) vs. Enterprise Financial Services (NASDAQ:EFSC) Critical Contrast

Enterprise Financial Services (NASDAQ:EFSC) and United Bancorp (NASDAQ:UBCP) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Enterprise Financial Services and United Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Enterprise Financial Services	0	1	4	0	2.80
United Bancorp	0	1	0	0	2.00

Enterprise Financial Services presently has a consensus price target of $66.00, suggesting a potential upside of 8.20%. Given Enterprise Financial Services’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Enterprise Financial Services is more favorable than United Bancorp.

Risk and Volatility

Enterprise Financial Services has a beta of 0.79, suggesting that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Bancorp has a beta of 0.36, suggesting that its share price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

72.2% of Enterprise Financial Services shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 15.4% of United Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of Enterprise Financial Services shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.9% of United Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Enterprise Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. United Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.77 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. Enterprise Financial Services pays out 24.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. United Bancorp pays out 57.0% 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. Enterprise Financial Services has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years and United Bancorp has raised 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.

Profitability

This table compares Enterprise Financial Services and United Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Enterprise Financial Services	19.81%	10.35%	1.19%
United Bancorp	16.29%	11.80%	0.91%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Enterprise Financial Services and United Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Enterprise Financial Services	$1.00 billion	2.23	$201.37 million	$5.30	11.51
United Bancorp	$47.51 million	1.87	$7.75 million	$1.35	11.37

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

Summary

Enterprise Financial Services beats United Bancorp on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Enterprise Financial Services

Enterprise Financial Services Corp operates as the holding company for Enterprise Bank & Trust that offers banking and wealth management services to individuals and corporate customers primarily in Arizona, California, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, and New Mexico. It provides checking, savings, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company also provides commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, real estate construction and development, residential real estate, small business administration, agricultural, consumer, and other loan products. In addition, it offers treasury management and international trade services; tax credit brokerage services; life insurance premium and sponsor finance; tax credit related lending; other deposit accounts, such as community associations, property management, third party escrow, and trust services; treasury management product and services; customized solutions and products; cash management; fiduciary, investment management, and financial advisory services; and customer hedging products, including international banking, card services, and tax credit businesses. Further, the company provides online, device applications, text, and voice banking; remote deposit capture; internet banking, mobile banking, cash management, positive pay services, fraud detection and prevention, automated payables, check image, and statement and document imaging; and controlled disbursements, repurchase agreements, and sweep investment accounts. Enterprise Financial Services Corp was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Clayton, Missouri.

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.