Contrasting C&F Financial (NASDAQ:CFFI) & Synovus Financial (NYSE:SNV)

C&F Financial (NASDAQ:CFFI) and Synovus Financial (NYSE:SNV) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and valuation.

Dividends

C&F Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Synovus Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. C&F Financial pays out 22.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Synovus Financial pays out 29.1% 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. C&F Financial has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Synovus Financial has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Volatility & Risk

C&F Financial has a beta of 0.34, indicating that its share price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Synovus Financial has a beta of 1.21, indicating that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

37.2% of C&F Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.9% of Synovus Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 6.3% of C&F Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Synovus Financial shares are held by 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for C&F Financial and Synovus Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
C&F Financial	0	1	0	0	2.00
Synovus Financial	0	8	6	0	2.43

Synovus Financial has a consensus target price of $58.38, suggesting a potential upside of 12.34%. Given Synovus Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Synovus Financial is more favorable than C&F Financial.

Profitability

This table compares C&F Financial and Synovus Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
C&F Financial	14.39%	10.94%	0.99%
Synovus Financial	21.97%	16.13%	1.33%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares C&F Financial and Synovus Financial”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
C&F Financial	$170.13 million	1.36	$19.83 million	$8.08	8.85
Synovus Financial	$3.43 billion	2.10	$482.46 million	$5.36	9.70

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

Summary

Synovus Financial beats C&F Financial on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About C&F Financial

C&F Financial Corp. is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services to individuals and businesses. It operates through the following segments: Community Banking, Mortgage Banking and Consumer Finance. The Community Banking segment provides checking and savings deposit accounts, business, real estate, development, mortgage, home equity, and installment loans. The Mortgage Banking segment offers ancillary mortgage loan origination services for loan settlement and residential appraisals. The Consumer Finance segment consists of automobile financing through lending programs that are designed to serve customers in the non-prime market who have limited access to traditional automobile financing. The company was founded on March 8, 1994 and is headquartered in Toano, VA.

About Synovus Financial

Synovus Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Synovus Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking products and services. It operates through four segments: Community Banking, Wholesale Banking, Consumer Banking, and Financial Management Services. The company's commercial banking services include treasury and asset management, capital market, and institutional trust services, as well as commercial, financial, and real estate lending services. Its consumer banking services comprise accepting customary types of demand and savings deposits accounts; mortgage, installment, and other consumer loans; investment and brokerage services; safe deposit services; automated banking services; automated fund transfers; internet-based banking services; and bank credit and debit card services, including Visa and MasterCard services. The company also offers various other financial services, including portfolio management for fixed-income securities, investment banking, execution of securities transactions as a broker/dealer, trust management, and financial planning services, as well as provides individual investment advice on equity and other securities. The company was founded in 1888 and is headquartered in Columbus, Georgia.