Critical Survey: Mvb Financial (NASDAQ:MVBF) versus Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:UNB)

Mvb Financial (NASDAQ:MVBF) and Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:UNB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

52.7% of Mvb Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 14.8% of Union Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. 9.9% of Mvb Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of Union Bankshares shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Mvb Financial and Union Bankshares, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mvb Financial	0	2	3	1	2.83
Union Bankshares	0	1	0	0	2.00

Mvb Financial presently has a consensus price target of $32.00, suggesting a potential upside of 23.98%. Given Mvb Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Mvb Financial is more favorable than Union Bankshares.

Profitability

This table compares Mvb Financial and Union Bankshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mvb Financial	13.37%	2.09%	0.21%
Union Bankshares	12.75%	14.78%	0.72%

Volatility & Risk

Mvb Financial has a beta of 0.9, suggesting that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Union Bankshares has a beta of 0.36, suggesting that its stock price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Mvb Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Union Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.8%. Mvb Financial pays out 33.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Union Bankshares pays out 59.3% 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Mvb Financial and Union Bankshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mvb Financial	$124.67 million	2.66	$26.94 million	$2.06	12.53
Union Bankshares	$53.23 million	2.17	$11.08 million	$2.43	10.29

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

Summary

Mvb Financial beats Union Bankshares on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mvb Financial

MVB Financial Corp. operates as bank holding company for MVB Bank, Inc that provides financial services to individuals and corporate clients. The company operates through three segments: CoRe Banking, Mortgage Banking, and The Financial Holding Company. It offers various demand deposit accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit; and commercial, consumer, and real estate mortgage loans, as well as lines of credit. The company also provides debit cards; cashier's checks; safe deposit rental facilities; and non-deposit investment services, as well as financial technology (Fintech) banking services. In addition, it offers fintech solutions for the gaming, payments, banking-as-a-service, and digital asset sectors; fraud prevention services for merchants, credit agencies, Fintech companies, and other vendors; and digital products and web and mobile applications for forward-thinking community banks, credit unions, digital banks, and Fintech companies. It operates full-service branches in West Virginia and Virginia. MVB Financial Corp. was founded in 1997 and is based in Fairmont, West Virginia.

About Union Bankshares

Union Bankshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Union Bank that provides retail, commercial, and municipal banking products and services in northern Vermont and New Hampshire. It offers retail depository services, such as personal checking, savings, money market, IRA/SEP/KEOGH, and health savings accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also provides commercial real estate loans; commercial loans for plant and equipment, working capital, real estate renovation, and other business purposes to business owners and investors; small business administration guaranteed loans; residential construction and mortgage loans; municipal financing, including loans and excess deposits secured by FHLBB letters of credit; and home improvement loans and overdraft checking privileges against preauthorized lines of credit. In addition, it offers online cash management services, including account reconciliation, credit card depository, automated clearing house origination, wire transfers, positive pay and night depository services; merchant credit card services for the deposit and immediate credit of sales drafts; remote deposit capture services; and online mortgage application and consumer deposit account opening services. Further, the company provides business checking accounts; standby letters of credit, bank checks or money orders, and safe deposit boxes; ATM cards and services; debit cards; telephone, internet, and mobile banking services, including bill pay; and wealth management, fiduciary, and trust services. It offers retail banking services to individuals; and commercial banking services to small and medium sized business corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, and sole proprietorships, as well as nonprofit organizations, local municipalities, and school districts. Union Bankshares, Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Morrisville, Vermont.