Head to Head Survey: Atlantic Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:AUB) and Bank of South Carolina (NASDAQ:BKSC)

Bank of South Carolina (NASDAQ:BKSC) and Atlantic Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:AUB) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.2% of Bank of South Carolina shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.6% of Atlantic Union Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 29.8% of Bank of South Carolina shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Atlantic Union Bankshares shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Bank of South Carolina has a beta of 0.47, meaning that its stock price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atlantic Union Bankshares has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Bank of South Carolina pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. Atlantic Union Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Bank of South Carolina pays out 61.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Atlantic Union Bankshares pays out 56.4% 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Bank of South Carolina and Atlantic Union Bankshares, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bank of South Carolina	0	0	0	0	0.00
Atlantic Union Bankshares	0	1	4	0	2.80

Atlantic Union Bankshares has a consensus target price of $42.00, indicating a potential upside of 20.07%. Given Atlantic Union Bankshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Atlantic Union Bankshares is more favorable than Bank of South Carolina.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Bank of South Carolina and Atlantic Union Bankshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bank of South Carolina	$21.16 million	3.41	$5.49 million	$1.23	10.79
Atlantic Union Bankshares	$777.34 million	4.04	$201.82 million	$2.41	14.51

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

Profitability

This table compares Bank of South Carolina and Atlantic Union Bankshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bank of South Carolina	22.15%	12.84%	1.05%
Atlantic Union Bankshares	16.25%	8.85%	1.09%

Summary

Atlantic Union Bankshares beats Bank of South Carolina on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bank of South Carolina

Bank of South Carolina Corporation operates as a bank holding company for The Bank of South Carolina that provides a range of financial products and services primarily in Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties of South Carolina. Its deposits include non-interest-bearing demand accounts, NOW accounts, money market accounts, time deposits, and savings accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company offers secured and unsecured commercial loans, commercial real estate construction loans, consumer construction loans, home equity lines of credit, and mortgage originations, as well as paycheck protection program loans. It operates five banking house locations. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina.

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.