Reviewing Atlantic Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:AUB) & Live Oak Bancshares (NASDAQ:LOB)

Atlantic Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:AUB) and Live Oak Bancshares (NASDAQ:LOB) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, profitability, earnings, risk, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Atlantic Union Bankshares and Live Oak Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Atlantic Union Bankshares	1	1	6	1	2.78
Live Oak Bancshares	0	2	3	0	2.60

Atlantic Union Bankshares presently has a consensus price target of $40.83, suggesting a potential upside of 19.76%. Live Oak Bancshares has a consensus price target of $43.20, suggesting a potential upside of 25.98%. Given Live Oak Bancshares’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Live Oak Bancshares is more favorable than Atlantic Union Bankshares.

Profitability

This table compares Atlantic Union Bankshares and Live Oak Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Atlantic Union Bankshares	15.53%	8.50%	1.06%
Live Oak Bancshares	7.10%	6.88%	0.55%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

78.6% of Atlantic Union Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.0% of Live Oak Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Atlantic Union Bankshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 23.4% of Live Oak Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Atlantic Union Bankshares and Live Oak Bancshares”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Atlantic Union Bankshares	$1.21 billion	4.03	$209.13 million	$1.87	18.23
Live Oak Bancshares	$533.05 million	2.94	$77.47 million	$1.49	23.01

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

Volatility and Risk

Atlantic Union Bankshares has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Live Oak Bancshares has a beta of 1.81, suggesting that its stock price is 81% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Atlantic Union Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Live Oak Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Atlantic Union Bankshares pays out 72.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Live Oak Bancshares pays out 8.1% 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.

Summary

Atlantic Union Bankshares beats Live Oak Bancshares on 13 of the 18 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 Live Oak Bancshares

Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Live Oak Banking Company that provides various banking products and services in the United States. It operates through two segments, Banking and Fintech. The company accepts various deposit products, including noninterest-bearing demand, as well as interest-bearing checking, money market, savings, and time deposits. It also offers commercial and industrial loans; construction and development loans; owner occupied and non-owner occupied collateral commercial real estate loans; and commercial land loans. In addition, the company provides settlement, accounting, and securitization services for government guaranteed loans; financing for renewable energy application industry; wealth and investment management services to high-net-worth individuals and families; and investment advisory services to a series of funds focused on providing venture capital to new and emerging financial technology companies. Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina.