Contrasting First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) & Origin Bancorp (NYSE:OBK)

Origin Bancorp (NYSE:OBK) and First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and earnings.

Volatility & Risk

Origin Bancorp has a beta of 0.71, meaning that its share price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First United has a beta of 0.51, meaning that its share price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Origin Bancorp and First United, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Origin Bancorp	0	2	5	0	2.71
First United	0	0	3	0	3.00

Origin Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $58.00, suggesting a potential upside of 6.68%. First United has a consensus target price of $49.50, suggesting a potential upside of 9.95%. Given First United’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe First United is more favorable than Origin Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares Origin Bancorp and First United’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Origin Bancorp	16.26%	7.97%	1.00%
First United	20.05%	13.69%	1.36%

Dividends

Origin Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. First United pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Origin Bancorp pays out 31.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First United pays out 26.9% 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. Origin Bancorp has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years and First United has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years. First United is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

54.7% of Origin Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.3% of First United shares are held by institutional investors. 5.3% of Origin Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.1% of First United shares are held 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Origin Bancorp and First United”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Origin Bancorp	$597.80 million	2.81	$75.20 million	$3.20	16.99
First United	$121.42 million	2.39	$24.51 million	$3.86	11.66

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

Summary

First United beats Origin Bancorp on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Origin Bancorp

Origin Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Origin Bank that provides banking and financial services to small and medium-sized businesses, municipalities, high net worth individuals, and retail clients in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. It offers noninterest and interest-bearing checking accounts, savings deposits, money market accounts, and time deposits; and offers commercial real estate, construction and land development, consumer, residential real estate, commercial and industrial, mortgage warehouse, residential mortgage, and paycheck protection program loans. The company also offers personal and commercial property, and casualty insurance products; and Internet banking and voice response information, mobile applications, cash management, overdraft protection, direct deposit, safe deposit box, U.S. savings bonds, and automatic account transfer services; and treasury management, mortgage origination and servicing facilities, peer-to-peer electronic pay solutions, and personal financial management solutions. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 44 banking centers. The company was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Ruston, Louisiana.

About First United

First United Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First United Bank & Trust that provides various retail and commercial banking services to businesses and individuals. It offers various deposit products, which includes checking, savings, money market deposit, and regular and individual retirement accounts (IRAs), as well as certificates of deposit. The company loan portfolio includes commercial loans secured by real estate, commercial equipment, vehicles, or other assets of the borrower; commercial real estate loans for residential and commercial development, agricultural purpose properties, and service industry buildings, such as restaurants and motels, retail buildings, and general purpose business space; residential mortgage loans; home equity lines of credit; residential real estate construction loans; and indirect and direct auto loans, student loans, and other secured and unsecured lines of credit and term loans. It also offers access to multi-million-dollar certificates of deposit and the Intrafi cash service, including multi-million-dollar savings and demand deposits to municipalities, businesses, and consumers; and treasury management, cash sweep, and various checking services. In addition, the company provides trust services, which includes personal trust, investment agency accounts, charitable trusts, retirement accounts, including IRA roll-overs, 401(k) accounts and defined benefit plans, estate administration, and estate planning; and insurance products, brokerage services, and safe deposit and night depository facilities. First United Corporation was founded in 1900 and is headquartered in Oakland, Maryland.