Financial Comparison: Republic Bancorp (NASDAQ:RBCAA) & Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ:PNFP)

Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ:PNFP) and Republic Bancorp (NASDAQ:RBCAA) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Pinnacle Financial Partners and Republic Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pinnacle Financial Partners	0	7	6	0	2.46
Republic Bancorp	0	2	1	0	2.33

Pinnacle Financial Partners presently has a consensus target price of $109.55, indicating a potential upside of 21.56%. Republic Bancorp has a consensus target price of $69.00, indicating a potential upside of 1.72%. Given Pinnacle Financial Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Pinnacle Financial Partners is more favorable than Republic Bancorp.

Dividends

Pinnacle Financial Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Republic Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Pinnacle Financial Partners pays out 12.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Republic Bancorp pays out 27.6% 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. Pinnacle Financial Partners has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Republic Bancorp has increased its dividend for 27 consecutive years. Republic Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

87.4% of Pinnacle Financial Partners shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.4% of Republic Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of Pinnacle Financial Partners shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 56.4% of Republic Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Pinnacle Financial Partners has a beta of 1.12, suggesting that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Republic Bancorp has a beta of 0.59, suggesting that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Pinnacle Financial Partners and Republic Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pinnacle Financial Partners	19.17%	9.91%	1.17%
Republic Bancorp	24.53%	12.40%	1.83%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Pinnacle Financial Partners and Republic Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pinnacle Financial Partners	$1.74 billion	4.02	$475.06 million	$7.87	11.45
Republic Bancorp	$406.38 million	3.26	$101.37 million	$6.53	10.39

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

Summary

Pinnacle Financial Partners beats Republic Bancorp on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pinnacle Financial Partners

Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as the bank holding company for Pinnacle Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals, businesses, and professional entities in the United States. The company accepts various deposits, including savings, noninterest-bearing and interest-bearing checking, money market, and certificate of deposit accounts; and provides treasury management services, which includes online wire origination, enhanced ACH origination services, positive pay, zero balance and sweep accounts, automated bill pay services, electronic receivables processing, lockbox processing, and merchant card acceptance services. It offers equipment and working capital loans; commercial real estate loans comprising investment properties and business loans; secured and unsecured loans, such as installment and term, lines of credit, and residential first mortgage, as well as home equity loans and home equity lines of credit; and credit cards for consumers and businesses. The company also provides investment products; brokerage and investment advisory programs; and fiduciary and investment services, such as personal trust, investment management, estate administration, endowments, foundations, individual retirement accounts, escrow services, and custody. In addition, it offers insurance agency services primarily in the property and casualty area; merger and acquisition advisory services; and private debt, equity and mezzanine, and other middle-market advisory services. Further, the company provides telephone and online banking, mobile banking, debit and credit cards, direct deposit and remote deposit capture, mobile deposit option, automated teller machine, and cash management services. Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.

About Republic Bancorp

Republic Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Republic Bank & Trust Company that provides various banking products and services in the United States. It operates in six segments: Traditional Banking, Warehouse, Mortgage Banking, Tax Refund Solutions, Republic Payment Solutions, and Republic Credit Solutions. The company offers demand, money market accounts, savings, individual retirement accounts, time, brokered, and other certificates of deposit; and retail and commercial mortgage, construction and land development, consumer, aircraft, and marine loans. It also provides credit cards; title insurance and other financial products and services; and private banking, lockbox processing, remote deposit capture, business online banking, account reconciliation, automated clearing house processing, and internet and mobile banking services. In addition, it offers short-term and revolving credit facilities to mortgage bankers through mortgage warehouse lines of credit; mortgage banking; tax refund solutions, which facilitate the receipt and payment of federal and state tax refund products through third-party tax preparers and tax-preparation software providers; payments-related products and services to consumers through third party service providers; and consumer credit products. The company offers its services through full-services banking centers in Kentucky, Indiana, Florida, Ohio, and Tennessee. Republic Bancorp, Inc. was incorporated in 1974 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.