Southern National Bancorp of Virginia (SONA) Competitors

Southern National Bancorp of Virginia (NASDAQ:SONA) and ConnectOne Bancorp (NASDAQ:CNOB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, community ranking, dividends, profitability, valuation, risk, media sentiment and analyst recommendations.

Is SONA or CNOB a better dividend stock?

Southern National Bancorp of Virginia pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. ConnectOne Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Southern National Bancorp of Virginia pays out 27.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ConnectOne Bancorp pays out 38.9% 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. ConnectOne Bancorp has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Southern National Bancorp of Virginia is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor SONA or CNOB?

ConnectOne Bancorp received 91 more outperform votes than Southern National Bancorp of Virginia when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 58.02% of users gave ConnectOne Bancorp an outperform vote while only 38.96% of users gave Southern National Bancorp of Virginia an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Southern National Bancorp of Virginia	Outperform Votes 173 38.96%	Underperform Votes 271 61.04%
ConnectOne Bancorp	Outperform Votes 264 58.02%	Underperform Votes 191 41.98%

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in SONA or CNOB?

77.2% of Southern National Bancorp of Virginia shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.7% of ConnectOne Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.9% of Southern National Bancorp of Virginia shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.4% of ConnectOne Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media favor SONA or CNOB?

In the previous week, ConnectOne Bancorp had 3 more articles in the media than Southern National Bancorp of Virginia. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for ConnectOne Bancorp and 0 mentions for Southern National Bancorp of Virginia. ConnectOne Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.19 beat Southern National Bancorp of Virginia's score of 0.00 indicating that ConnectOne Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Southern National Bancorp of Virginia	Neutral
ConnectOne Bancorp	Positive

Which has higher valuation and earnings, SONA or CNOB?

ConnectOne Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Southern National Bancorp of Virginia. Southern National Bancorp of Virginia is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ConnectOne Bancorp, 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
Southern National Bancorp of Virginia	$133.11M	1.82	$33.17M	$1.48	6.68
ConnectOne Bancorp	$270.12M	3.19	$73.79M	$1.85	12.09

Do analysts prefer SONA or CNOB?

ConnectOne Bancorp has a consensus target price of $28.50, indicating a potential upside of 27.43%. Given ConnectOne Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe ConnectOne Bancorp is more favorable than Southern National Bancorp of Virginia.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Southern National Bancorp of Virginia	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
ConnectOne Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is SONA or CNOB more profitable?

Southern National Bancorp of Virginia has a net margin of 17.12% compared to ConnectOne Bancorp's net margin of 13.80%. Southern National Bancorp of Virginia's return on equity of 7.23% beat ConnectOne Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Southern National Bancorp of Virginia	17.12%	7.23%	0.94%
ConnectOne Bancorp	13.80%	6.77%	0.78%

Which has more risk & volatility, SONA or CNOB?

Southern National Bancorp of Virginia has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ConnectOne Bancorp has a beta of 1.12, meaning that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

ConnectOne Bancorp beats Southern National Bancorp of Virginia on 15 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.