Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina (NASDAQ:PEBK) vs. Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ:PNFP) Financial Survey

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina (NASDAQ:PEBK) and Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ:PNFP) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, valuation, earnings, risk and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

43.8% of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.4% of Pinnacle Financial Partners shares are held by institutional investors. 16.9% of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Pinnacle Financial Partners shares are held 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.

Profitability

This table compares Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina and Pinnacle Financial Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina	15.11%	12.17%	1.00%
Pinnacle Financial Partners	19.17%	9.91%	1.17%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina and Pinnacle Financial Partners, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina	0	1	0	0	2.00
Pinnacle Financial Partners	0	7	6	0	2.46

Pinnacle Financial Partners has a consensus price target of $109.55, suggesting a potential upside of 18.11%. Given Pinnacle Financial Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Pinnacle Financial Partners is more favorable than Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina.

Volatility and Risk

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pinnacle Financial Partners has a beta of 1.12, meaning that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina and Pinnacle Financial Partners”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina	$73.46 million	2.40	$16.35 million	$3.06	10.54
Pinnacle Financial Partners	$1.74 billion	4.14	$475.06 million	$7.87	11.79

Pinnacle Financial Partners has higher revenue and earnings than Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Pinnacle Financial Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Pinnacle Financial Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina pays out 26.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Pinnacle Financial Partners pays out 12.2% 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. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Pinnacle Financial Partners has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Summary

Pinnacle Financial Partners beats Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Peoples Bank that provides various banking products and services for individuals and small-to medium-sized businesses. It offers checking, savings, money market, and retirement accounts; certificates of deposits; and credit and debit cards. The company also originates commercial real estate loans, commercial loans, construction and land development loans, and residential mortgage loans; and individual taxpayer identification number mortgage loans, as well as agricultural loans. In addition, it provides investment counseling and non-deposit investment products, such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, tax deferred annuities, and related brokerage services; and real estate appraisal and brokerage services. Further, the company operates as a clearing-house for the provision of appraisal services for community banks; and acquires, manages, and disposes real property, other collateral, and other assets obtained in the ordinary course of collecting debts. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, Inc. was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Newton, North Carolina.

About Pinnacle Financial Partners

Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as the bank holding company for Pinnacle Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals, businesses, and professional entities in the United States. The company accepts various deposits, including savings, noninterest-bearing and interest-bearing checking, money market, and certificate of deposit accounts; and provides treasury management services, which includes online wire origination, enhanced ACH origination services, positive pay, zero balance and sweep accounts, automated bill pay services, electronic receivables processing, lockbox processing, and merchant card acceptance services. It offers equipment and working capital loans; commercial real estate loans comprising investment properties and business loans; secured and unsecured loans, such as installment and term, lines of credit, and residential first mortgage, as well as home equity loans and home equity lines of credit; and credit cards for consumers and businesses. The company also provides investment products; brokerage and investment advisory programs; and fiduciary and investment services, such as personal trust, investment management, estate administration, endowments, foundations, individual retirement accounts, escrow services, and custody. In addition, it offers insurance agency services primarily in the property and casualty area; merger and acquisition advisory services; and private debt, equity and mezzanine, and other middle-market advisory services. Further, the company provides telephone and online banking, mobile banking, debit and credit cards, direct deposit and remote deposit capture, mobile deposit option, automated teller machine, and cash management services. Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.