Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) and Park National (NYSE:PRK) Head to Head Survey

Park National (NYSE:PRK) and Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Park National and Amerant Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Park National	0	3	0	0	2.00
Amerant Bancorp	1	0	0	0	1.00

Park National presently has a consensus target price of $177.75, indicating a potential upside of 14.62%. Given Park National’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Park National is more favorable than Amerant Bancorp.

Dividends

Park National pays an annual dividend of $4.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Amerant Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Park National pays out 41.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Amerant Bancorp pays out -180.0% 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. Park National has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years. Park National is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Risk & Volatility

Park National has a beta of 0.72, meaning that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amerant Bancorp has a beta of 1.3, meaning that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Park National and Amerant Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Park National	$543.45 million	4.59	$151.42 million	$10.29	15.07
Amerant Bancorp	$605.50 million	1.24	-$15.75 million	($0.20)	-89.65

Park National has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Amerant Bancorp. Amerant Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Park National, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Park National and Amerant Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Park National	23.46%	12.31%	1.50%
Amerant Bancorp	0.60%	7.12%	0.63%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

62.7% of Park National shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.1% of Amerant Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of Park National shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of Amerant Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Park National beats Amerant Bancorp on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Park National

Park National Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Park National Bank that provides commercial banking and trust services in small and medium population areas. The company offers deposits for demand, savings, and time accounts; trust and wealth management services; cash management services; safe deposit operations; electronic funds transfers; Internet and mobile banking solutions with bill pay service; credit cards; and various additional banking-related services. It also provides commercial loans, including financing for industrial and commercial properties, financing for equipment, inventory and accounts receivable, acquisition financing, and commercial leasing, as well as for consumer finance companies; commercial real estate loans comprising mortgage loans to developers and owners of commercial real estate; originates financing leases primarily for the purchase of commercial vehicles, operating/manufacturing equipment, and municipal vehicles/equipment; consumer loans, such as automobile loans; consumer finance services; home equity lines of credit; and residential real estate and construction loans, as well as installment loans and commercial loans. In addition, the company offers aircraft financing services; and ParkDirect, a personal banking application. Park National Corporation was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Newark, Ohio.

About Amerant Bancorp

Amerant Bancorp Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Amerant Bank, N.A. that provides banking products and services to individuals and businesses in the United States and internationally. The company offers checking, savings, and money market accounts; and certificates of deposits. It also provides variable and fixed rate commercial real estate loans; loans secured by owner-occupied properties; loans to domestic and foreign individuals primarily secured by personal residence; working capital loans, asset-based lending, participations in shared national credits, purchased receivables, and small business administration loans; loans to financial institutions and acceptances; and consumer loans and overdrafts, such as automobile, personal, or loans secured by cash or securities and revolving credit card agreements. In addition, the company offers trust and estate planning products and services to high-net-worth customers, brokerage and investment advisory services in global capital markets, and wealth management and fiduciary services. Further, it provides debit and credit cards, night depositories, direct deposits, cashier’s checks, safe deposit boxes, letters of credit, and treasury management services, including wire transfer, remote deposit capture, and automated clearinghouse services; derivative instruments; and online and mobile banking, account balances, statements and other documents, online transfers and bill payment, and electronic delivery of customer statements services, as well as automated teller machines, and banking by mobile devices, telephone, and mail. As of December 31, 2021, the company operated 24 banking centers comprising 17 in Florida and 7 in Texas. It also operates loan production offices in Tampa, Florida. The company was formerly known as Mercantil Bank Holding Corporation and changed its name to Amerant Bancorp Inc. in June 2019. Amerant Bancorp Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida.