Analyzing Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) and German American Bancorp (NASDAQ:GABC)

German American Bancorp (NASDAQ:GABC) and Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares German American Bancorp and Huntington Bancshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
German American Bancorp	$353.70 million	4.17	$83.81 million	$2.86	13.74
Huntington Bancshares	$11.96 billion	2.21	$1.94 billion	$1.43	12.69

Huntington Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than German American Bancorp. Huntington Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than German American Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares German American Bancorp and Huntington Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
German American Bancorp	22.19%	11.85%	1.49%
Huntington Bancshares	18.06%	12.14%	1.09%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

46.9% of German American Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.7% of Huntington Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 6.2% of German American Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Huntington Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

German American Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Huntington Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. German American Bancorp pays out 40.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Huntington Bancshares pays out 43.4% 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. German American Bancorp has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for German American Bancorp and Huntington Bancshares, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
German American Bancorp	0	2	1	0	2.33
Huntington Bancshares	1	4	15	2	2.82

German American Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $45.50, indicating a potential upside of 15.78%. Huntington Bancshares has a consensus price target of $20.03, indicating a potential upside of 10.40%. Given German American Bancorp’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe German American Bancorp is more favorable than Huntington Bancshares.

Volatility & Risk

German American Bancorp has a beta of 0.67, suggesting that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Huntington Bancshares has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

About German American Bancorp

German American Bancorp, Inc. operates as a financial holding company for German American Bank that provides retail and commercial banking services. The company operates through three segments: Core Banking, Wealth Management Services, and Insurance Operations. The Core Banking segment accepts deposits from the general public; and originates consumer, commercial and agricultural, commercial and agricultural real estate, and residential mortgage loans, as well as sells residential mortgage loans in the secondary market. The Wealth Management segment provides trust, investment advisory, brokerage, and retirement planning services. The Insurance Operations segment offers a range of personal and corporate property and casualty insurance products. It also offers checking, saving, and individual retirement accounts; certificates of deposit; wire transfer; credit cards; home equity, mortgages, and small business; treasury management; and online and mobile banking, bill pay, digital wallet, mobile check deposit, credit score and report, money management, and estatements, as well as wealth advisory. German American Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1910 and is based in Jasper, Indiana.

About Huntington Bancshares

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated operates as the bank holding company for The Huntington National Bank that provides commercial, consumer, and mortgage banking services in the United States. The company offers financial products and services to consumer and business customers, including deposits, lending, payments, mortgage banking, dealer financing, investment management, trust, brokerage, insurance, and other financial products and services. It also provides 24-hour grace, asterisk-free checking, money scout, $50 safety zone, standby cash, early pay, instant access, savings goal getter, and Huntington heads up; digitally powered consumer and business financial solutions to consumer lending, regional banking, branch banking, and wealth management customers; direct and indirect consumer loans, as well as dealer finance loans and deposits; and private banking, wealth management and legacy planning through investment and portfolio management, fiduciary administration and trust, institutional custody, and full-service retail brokerage investment services. The company offers equipment financing, asset-based lending, distribution finance, structured lending, and municipal financing solutions, as well as Huntington ChoicePay. In addition, it offers lending, liquidity, treasury management and other payment services, and capital markets; government and non-profits, healthcare, technology and telecommunications, franchises, financial sponsors, and global services; and corporate risk management, institutional sales and trading, debt and equity issuance, and additional advisory services. The company offers its products through a network of channels, including branches and ATMs, online and mobile banking, and through customer call centers to customers in middle market banking, corporate, specialty, and government banking, asset finance, commercial real estate banking, and capital markets. The company was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.