TowneBank (TOWN) Competitors

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) and TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, media sentiment, profitability, community ranking, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings and risk.

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in SBCF or TOWN?

81.8% of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.0% of TowneBank shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.1% of TowneBank shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is SBCF or TOWN more profitable?

TowneBank has a net margin of 16.33% compared to TowneBank's net margin of 13.54%. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida's return on equity of 8.03% beat TowneBank's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	13.54%	5.04%	0.70%
TowneBank	16.33%	8.03%	0.95%

Does the media refer more to SBCF or TOWN?

In the previous week, Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida had 5 more articles in the media than TowneBank. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida and 3 mentions for TowneBank. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida's average media sentiment score of 0.80 beat TowneBank's score of 0.69 indicating that TowneBank is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
TowneBank	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is SBCF or TOWN a better dividend stock?

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. TowneBank pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida pays out 58.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. TowneBank pays out 48.3% 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. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years and TowneBank has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years. TowneBank is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor SBCF or TOWN?

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida received 90 more outperform votes than TowneBank when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.33% of users gave Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida an outperform vote while only 55.41% of users gave TowneBank an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	Outperform Votes 295 60.33%	Underperform Votes 194 39.67%
TowneBank	Outperform Votes 205 55.41%	Underperform Votes 165 44.59%

Which has more volatility and risk, SBCF or TOWN?

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TowneBank has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer SBCF or TOWN?

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida currently has a consensus target price of $25.63, suggesting a potential upside of 9.32%. TowneBank has a consensus target price of $29.00, suggesting a potential upside of 6.97%. Given TowneBank's higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida is more favorable than TowneBank.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
TowneBank	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, SBCF or TOWN?

TowneBank has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida. TowneBank is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida, 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
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	$768.13M	2.59	$104.03M	$1.24	18.90
TowneBank	$695.09M	2.84	$153.71M	$2.07	13.09

Summary

TowneBank beats Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.