Head-To-Head Review: Stellarone (STEL) versus Its Peers

Stellarone (NYSE:STEL) is one of 26 public companies in the “National commercial banks” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare Stellarone to related businesses based on the strength of its dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and risk.

Dividends

Stellarone pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Stellarone pays out 30.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “National commercial banks” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.5% and pay out 35.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Stellarone has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Stellarone and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Stellarone	17.25%	6.30%	0.97%
Stellarone Competitors	16.58%	9.83%	0.98%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Stellarone and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Stellarone	0	2	2	0	2.50
Stellarone Competitors	94	655	362	18	2.27

Stellarone currently has a consensus price target of $37.00, indicating a potential downside of 0.66%. As a group, “National commercial banks” companies have a potential upside of 6.85%. Given Stellarone’s rivals higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Stellarone has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

54.2% of Stellarone shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.5% of shares of all “National commercial banks” companies are owned by institutional investors. 9.3% of Stellarone shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.4% of shares of all “National commercial banks” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Stellarone and its rivals gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Stellarone	$596.26 million	$102.87 million	18.81
Stellarone Competitors	$433.96 million	$77.85 million	17.49

Stellarone has higher revenue and earnings than its rivals. Stellarone is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Risk & Volatility

Stellarone has a beta of 0.75, indicating that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Stellarone’s rivals have a beta of 0.71, indicating that their average stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Stellarone beats its rivals on 10 of the 15 factors compared.

About Stellarone

StellarOne Corporation is a bank holding company of StellarOne Bank (the Bank). The Bank is an independent commercial bank holding company. It offers services provided by full-service banks, including individual and commercial demand and time deposit accounts, commercial and consumer loans, residential mortgages, credit card services and deposit services. The Bank, through its commercial banking segment, offers Internet banking access for banking services, mobile banking and online bill payment for both consumers and commercial customers. Lending is focused on individuals and small to middle-market businesses in the local markets of the Bank. The Bank, through its wealth management segment, provides a variety of wealth management and personal trust services. The mortgage banking segment engages primarily in the origination and acquisition of residential mortgages for sale into the secondary market. In January 2014, Union First Market Bankshares Corp acquired StellarOne Corporation.