Critical Analysis: Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) & Southern Missouri Bancorp (NASDAQ:SMBC)

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) and Southern Missouri Bancorp (NASDAQ:SMBC) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, profitability, dividends, risk and institutional ownership.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

81.8% of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.5% of Southern Missouri Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 14.6% of Southern Missouri Bancorp 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.

Volatility & Risk

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has a beta of 0.9, suggesting that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southern Missouri Bancorp has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Southern Missouri Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida pays out 48.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Southern Missouri Bancorp pays out 16.8% 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 Southern Missouri Bancorp has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida and Southern Missouri Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	0	2	2	0	2.50
Southern Missouri Bancorp	0	5	1	1	2.43

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida currently has a consensus price target of $36.75, suggesting a potential upside of 15.31%. Southern Missouri Bancorp has a consensus price target of $81.75, suggesting a potential upside of 15.25%. Given Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida is more favorable than Southern Missouri Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida and Southern Missouri Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	15.11%	8.68%	1.14%
Southern Missouri Bancorp	22.63%	12.59%	1.41%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida and Southern Missouri Bancorp”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	3.30	$144.88 million	$1.57	20.30
Southern Missouri Bancorp	$316.78 million	2.47	$71.84 million	$6.43	11.03

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has higher revenue and earnings than Southern Missouri Bancorp. Southern Missouri Bancorp 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.

Summary

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida beats Southern Missouri Bancorp on 10 of the 18 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 Southern Missouri Bancorp

Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Southern Bank that provides banking and financial services to individuals and corporate customers in the United States. The company offers deposits products, including interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing transaction accounts, saving accounts, certificates of deposit, retirement savings plans, and money market deposit accounts. It also provides loans, such as residential mortgage, commercial real estate, construction, and commercial business loans; and consumer loans comprising home equity, direct and indirect automobile loans, second mortgages, mobile home loans, and loans secured by deposits. In addition, the company offers fiduciary and investment management services; commercial and consumer insurance; online and mobile banking services; and debit or credit cards. The company was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.