Columbia Banking System (COLB) Competitors

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) and Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, media sentiment, risk, community ranking, earnings, profitability, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Which has more risk and volatility, HWC or COLB?

Hancock Whitney has a beta of 1.29, indicating that its share price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Columbia Banking System has a beta of 0.66, indicating that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in HWC or COLB?

81.2% of Hancock Whitney shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.5% of Columbia Banking System shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Hancock Whitney shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Columbia Banking System shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts recommend HWC or COLB?

Hancock Whitney currently has a consensus target price of $56.78, suggesting a potential downside of 0.60%. Columbia Banking System has a consensus target price of $23.81, suggesting a potential downside of 11.79%. Given Columbia Banking System's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Hancock Whitney is more favorable than Columbia Banking System.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hancock Whitney	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Columbia Banking System	0 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.15

Is HWC or COLB more profitable?

Hancock Whitney has a net margin of 18.63% compared to Hancock Whitney's net margin of 16.52%. Hancock Whitney's return on equity of 11.58% beat Columbia Banking System's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hancock Whitney	18.63%	11.51%	1.22%
Columbia Banking System	16.52%	11.58%	1.07%

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in HWC or COLB?

Columbia Banking System received 210 more outperform votes than Hancock Whitney when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 46.55% of users gave Hancock Whitney an outperform vote while only 43.56% of users gave Columbia Banking System an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Hancock Whitney	Outperform Votes 54 46.55%	Underperform Votes 62 53.45%
Columbia Banking System	Outperform Votes 264 43.56%	Underperform Votes 342 56.44%

Is HWC or COLB a better dividend stock?

Hancock Whitney pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Columbia Banking System pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Hancock Whitney pays out 37.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Columbia Banking System pays out 61.8% 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.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, HWC or COLB?

Hancock Whitney has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Columbia Banking System. Columbia Banking System is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hancock Whitney, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hancock Whitney	$1.91B	2.59	$392.60M	$4.29	13.31
Columbia Banking System	$2.74B	2.06	$348.71M	$2.33	11.58

Does the media refer more to HWC or COLB?

In the previous week, Columbia Banking System had 11 more articles in the media than Hancock Whitney. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for Columbia Banking System and 7 mentions for Hancock Whitney. Hancock Whitney's average media sentiment score of 0.99 beat Columbia Banking System's score of 0.99 indicating that Columbia Banking System is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Hancock Whitney	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Columbia Banking System	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Hancock Whitney beats Columbia Banking System on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.