Financial Comparison: BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) vs. Harleysville Financial (OTCMKTS:HARL)

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) and Harleysville Financial (OTCMKTS:HARL) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for BancFirst and Harleysville Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BancFirst	1	2	0	0	1.67
Harleysville Financial	0	0	0	0	0.00

BancFirst currently has a consensus target price of $113.33, indicating a potential downside of 7.55%. Given BancFirst’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe BancFirst is more favorable than Harleysville Financial.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares BancFirst and Harleysville Financial”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BancFirst	$809.34 million	5.02	$216.35 million	$6.44	19.04
Harleysville Financial	$40.39 million	1.98	$2.05 million	$2.29	9.61

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

Risk and Volatility

BancFirst has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Harleysville Financial has a beta of 0.34, indicating that its stock price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

51.7% of BancFirst shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.2% of Harleysville Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 33.9% of BancFirst shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 14.5% of Harleysville Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

BancFirst pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Harleysville Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.0%. BancFirst pays out 28.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Harleysville Financial pays out 57.6% 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. BancFirst has raised its dividend for 31 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares BancFirst and Harleysville Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BancFirst	23.52%	14.21%	1.68%
Harleysville Financial	20.43%	9.74%	0.97%

Summary

BancFirst beats Harleysville Financial on 15 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BancFirst

BancFirst Corporation operates as the bank holding company for BancFirst that provides a range of commercial banking services to retail customers, and small to medium-sized businesses. The company operates through BancFirst Metropolitan Banks, BancFirst Community Banks, Pegasus, Worthington, and Other Financial Services segments. It offers checking accounts, negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, sweep accounts, club accounts, individual retirement accounts, and certificates of deposit, as well as overdraft protection and auto draft services. The company also provides commercial and agricultural non-real estate loans for working capital, facilities acquisition or expansion, purchase of equipment, and other needs; lending services that include private banking, energy, commercial and residential real estate, and commercial and industrial loans; and loans to finance purchases of consumer goods, such as automobiles, boats, household goods, vacations, and education. In addition, it engages in the investment management and administration of trusts for individuals, corporations, and employee benefit plans, as well as bond trustee and paying agent business for various Oklahoma municipalities and governmental entities; and provision of item processing, research, and other correspondent banking services to financial institutions and governmental units. Further, the company provides insurance agency services; depository and funds transfer, collection, safe deposit box, cash management, and other services. It serves customers in non-metropolitan trade centers and cities in the metropolitan statistical areas of Oklahoma. The company was formerly known as United Community Corporation and changed its name to BancFirst Corporation in November 1988. BancFirst Corporation was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

About Harleysville Financial

Harleysville Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Harleysville Bank that provides various banking products and services in Pennsylvania. The company offers various deposit products, including savings, money market, and checking accounts, as well as certificates of deposits. It also provides consumer loans, including residential mortgages, savings account loans, and home equity line of credit, construction, and non-real estate consumer loans; and commercial loans, such as commercial mortgages, line of credit, and commercial business loans. In addition, the company offers online banking and bill payment, mobile and telephone banking, remote deposit, debit cards, automated clearing house processing, sweep accounts, zero balance accounts, employee services, and other cash management services. Further, it provides investment services, such as financial consultation, cash and wealth management, education planning, investment strategy, insurance, retirement and estate planning, financial and goal planning, and asset allocation services, as well as offers investment products, such as fixed and variable annuities, mutual funds, life insurances, stocks and bonds, tax-advantaged investments, long-term care insurances, disability insurances, retirement plans/individual retirement accounts, wrap accounts, and unit investment trusts. Its primary market area includes Montgomery County and Bucks County. The company was formerly known as Harleysville Savings Financial Corporation and changed its name to Harleysville Financial Corporation in May 2017. Harleysville Financial Corporation was founded in 1915 and is headquartered in Harleysville, Pennsylvania.