Reviewing Atlantic Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:AUB) & MVB Financial (NASDAQ:MVBF)

Atlantic Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:AUB) and MVB Financial (NASDAQ:MVBF) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, valuation and institutional ownership.

Risk & Volatility

Atlantic Union Bankshares has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MVB Financial has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Atlantic Union Bankshares and MVB Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Atlantic Union Bankshares	0	1	4	0	2.80
MVB Financial	0	1	2	0	2.67

Atlantic Union Bankshares presently has a consensus price target of $40.40, indicating a potential downside of 6.13%. MVB Financial has a consensus price target of $25.00, indicating a potential upside of 11.66%. Given MVB Financial’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe MVB Financial is more favorable than Atlantic Union Bankshares.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Atlantic Union Bankshares and MVB Financial”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Atlantic Union Bankshares	$777.34 million	4.97	$201.82 million	$2.41	17.86
MVB Financial	$143.80 million	2.01	$31.23 million	$1.42	15.77

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

Dividends

Atlantic Union Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. MVB Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Atlantic Union Bankshares pays out 56.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. MVB Financial pays out 47.9% 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. Atlantic Union Bankshares has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Atlantic Union Bankshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

78.6% of Atlantic Union Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.7% of MVB Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Atlantic Union Bankshares shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.1% of MVB Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Atlantic Union Bankshares	16.25%	8.85%	1.09%
MVB Financial	8.49%	6.29%	0.55%

Summary

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

About Atlantic Union Bankshares

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Atlantic Union Bank that provides banking and related financial products and services to consumers and businesses in the United States. It operates in two segments, Wholesale Banking and Consumer Banking. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, time deposit, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; and other depository services. It also provides loans for commercial, industrial, residential mortgage, and consumer purposes, as well as debit and credit cards. In addition, it provides treasury management and capital market, wealth management, private banking, trust, financial and retirement planning, brokerage, investment management, equipment finance, mortgage banking, and insurance products and services. The company offers products and services through full-service branches and ATMs, as well as through its mobile and internet banking. The company was formerly known as Union Bankshares Corporation and changed its name to Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation in May 2019. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Glen Allen, Virginia.

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.