Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) and Bank of the James Financial Group (NASDAQ:BOTJ) Critical Comparison

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) and Bank of the James Financial Group (NASDAQ:BOTJ) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, valuation, risk, earnings and institutional ownership.

Volatility & Risk

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bank of the James Financial Group has a beta of 0.18, indicating that its share price is 82% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida and Bank of the James Financial Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	$935.52 million	3.15	$144.88 million	$1.52	19.94
Bank of the James Financial Group	$62.51 million	1.67	$9.02 million	$2.42	9.48

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has higher revenue and earnings than Bank of the James Financial Group. Bank of the James Financial Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

81.8% of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 18.5% of Bank of the James Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 11.9% of Bank of the James Financial Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida and Bank of the James Financial Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	14.42%	8.23%	1.11%
Bank of the James Financial Group	17.17%	14.13%	1.06%

Dividends

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Bank of the James Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida pays out 50.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Bank of the James Financial Group pays out 16.5% 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. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years and Bank of the James Financial Group has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida and Bank of the James Financial Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	0	3	3	0	2.50
Bank of the James Financial Group	0	1	0	0	2.00

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida currently has a consensus target price of $33.13, suggesting a potential upside of 9.29%. Given Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida is more favorable than Bank of the James Financial Group.

Summary

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida beats Bank of the James Financial Group on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida

Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida is a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of integrated financial services. It provides banking and investment services to businesses and consumers, including personal and business deposit products, Internet and mobile banking, personal, commercial and mortgage loans, wealth management services, and treasury management solutions. The company was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Stuart, FL.

About Bank of the James Financial Group

Bank of the James Financial Group, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Bank of the James that provides general retail and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses, associations and organizations, and governmental authorities in Virginia, the United States. It offers checking, savings, individual retirement, and health care saving accounts, as well as other time deposits, including money market accounts and certificates of deposit. The company also provides loans to small- and medium-sized businesses for the purchases of equipment, facilities upgrades, inventory acquisition, and various working capital purposes; commercial and residential construction and development loans; commercial real estate mortgage loans; residential mortgage loans; and secured and unsecured consumer loans, such as lines of credit and overdraft lines of credit, as well as personal, automobile, installment, demand, and home equity loans for personal, family, or household purposes. In addition, it offers other banking services, including safe deposit boxes, traveler's checks, direct deposit of payroll and social security checks, automatic drafts for various accounts, treasury management, and credit card merchant services. Further, the company provides mortgage banking; investment advisory services; securities brokerage and investment services; and telephone and internet banking services comprising online bill pay, as well as acts as an agent for insurance and annuity products. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Lynchburg, Virginia.