Reviewing Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) & Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN)

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) and Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

81.2% of Lakeland Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.7% of Huntington Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.0% of Lakeland Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Huntington Bancshares shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Lakeland Financial and Huntington Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lakeland Financial	23.23%	13.77%	1.43%
Huntington Bancshares	18.06%	12.14%	1.09%

Dividends

Lakeland Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Huntington Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Lakeland Financial pays out 52.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Huntington Bancshares pays out 43.4% 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. Lakeland Financial has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Lakeland Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Lakeland Financial and Huntington Bancshares, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lakeland Financial	0	3	1	0	2.25
Huntington Bancshares	1	4	15	2	2.82

Lakeland Financial currently has a consensus price target of $68.67, suggesting a potential upside of 20.19%. Huntington Bancshares has a consensus price target of $20.03, suggesting a potential upside of 9.79%. Given Lakeland Financial’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Lakeland Financial is more favorable than Huntington Bancshares.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Lakeland Financial and Huntington Bancshares”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lakeland Financial	$262.76 million	5.55	$93.48 million	$3.79	15.07
Huntington Bancshares	$11.96 billion	2.23	$1.94 billion	$1.43	12.76

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

Volatility & Risk

Lakeland Financial has a beta of 0.73, meaning that its stock price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Huntington Bancshares has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Lakeland Financial beats Huntington Bancshares on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lakeland Financial

Lakeland Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Lake City Bank that provides various banking products and services in the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, such as noninterest bearing, interest-bearing checking, savings, money market, NOW, and demand deposits. Its loan products include commercial and industrial, commercial real estate and multi-family residential, construction, agri-business and agricultural, consumer 1-4 family mortgage, and other commercial and consumer loans. The company also provides retail and merchant credit card services; corporate treasury management, wealth advisory, and trust services; retail brokerage services, including various financial and investment products, such as annuities and life insurance; and mobile business banking and on-line treasury management services. It serves commercial real estate, manufacturing, agriculture, construction, retail, wholesale, finance and insurance, accommodation and food services, and health care industries. The company was founded in 1872 and is headquartered in Warsaw, Indiana.

About Huntington Bancshares

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated operates as the bank holding company for The Huntington National Bank that provides commercial, consumer, and mortgage banking services in the United States. The company offers financial products and services to consumer and business customers, including deposits, lending, payments, mortgage banking, dealer financing, investment management, trust, brokerage, insurance, and other financial products and services. It also provides 24-hour grace, asterisk-free checking, money scout, $50 safety zone, standby cash, early pay, instant access, savings goal getter, and Huntington heads up; digitally powered consumer and business financial solutions to consumer lending, regional banking, branch banking, and wealth management customers; direct and indirect consumer loans, as well as dealer finance loans and deposits; and private banking, wealth management and legacy planning through investment and portfolio management, fiduciary administration and trust, institutional custody, and full-service retail brokerage investment services. The company offers equipment financing, asset-based lending, distribution finance, structured lending, and municipal financing solutions, as well as Huntington ChoicePay. In addition, it offers lending, liquidity, treasury management and other payment services, and capital markets; government and non-profits, healthcare, technology and telecommunications, franchises, financial sponsors, and global services; and corporate risk management, institutional sales and trading, debt and equity issuance, and additional advisory services. The company offers its products through a network of channels, including branches and ATMs, online and mobile banking, and through customer call centers to customers in middle market banking, corporate, specialty, and government banking, asset finance, commercial real estate banking, and capital markets. The company was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.