Contrasting Atlantic Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:AUB) & Bank of South Carolina (NASDAQ:BKSC)

Atlantic Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:AUB) and Bank of South Carolina (NASDAQ:BKSC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, risk, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Atlantic Union Bankshares and Bank of South Carolina, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Atlantic Union Bankshares	0	1	4	0	2.80
Bank of South Carolina	0	0	0	0	0.00

Atlantic Union Bankshares presently has a consensus price target of $42.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.07%. Given Atlantic Union Bankshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Atlantic Union Bankshares is more favorable than Bank of South Carolina.

Volatility and Risk

Atlantic Union Bankshares has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bank of South Carolina has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Atlantic Union Bankshares and Bank of South Carolina’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Atlantic Union Bankshares	16.25%	8.85%	1.09%
Bank of South Carolina	22.15%	12.84%	1.05%

Dividends

Atlantic Union Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Bank of South Carolina pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. Atlantic Union Bankshares pays out 56.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Bank of South Carolina pays out 66.7% 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. Atlantic Union Bankshares has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Atlantic Union Bankshares and Bank of South Carolina”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Atlantic Union Bankshares	$777.34 million	4.04	$201.82 million	$2.41	14.51
Bank of South Carolina	$21.16 million	3.41	$5.49 million	$1.14	11.64

Atlantic Union Bankshares has higher revenue and earnings than Bank of South Carolina. Bank of South Carolina is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Atlantic Union Bankshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

78.6% of Atlantic Union Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.2% of Bank of South Carolina shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Atlantic Union Bankshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 29.8% of Bank of South Carolina shares are held by 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.

Summary

Atlantic Union Bankshares beats Bank of South Carolina on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Atlantic Union Bankshares

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Atlantic Union Bank that provides banking and related financial products and services to consumers and businesses in the United States. It operates in two segments, Wholesale Banking and Consumer Banking. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, time deposit, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; and other depository services. It also provides loans for commercial, industrial, residential mortgage, and consumer purposes, as well as debit and credit cards. In addition, it provides treasury management and capital market, wealth management, private banking, trust, financial and retirement planning, brokerage, investment management, equipment finance, mortgage banking, and insurance products and services. The company offers products and services through full-service branches and ATMs, as well as through its mobile and internet banking. The company was formerly known as Union Bankshares Corporation and changed its name to Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation in May 2019. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Glen Allen, Virginia.

About Bank of South Carolina

Bank of South Carolina Corporation operates as a bank holding company for The Bank of South Carolina that provides a range of financial products and services primarily in Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties of South Carolina. Its deposits include non-interest-bearing demand accounts, NOW accounts, money market accounts, time deposits, and savings accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company offers secured and unsecured commercial loans, commercial real estate construction loans, consumer construction loans, home equity lines of credit, and mortgage originations, as well as paycheck protection program loans. It operates five banking house locations. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina.