Financial Review: Origin Bancorp (NYSE:OBK) & WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC)

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) and Origin Bancorp (NYSE:OBK) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for WesBanco and Origin Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
WesBanco	0	5	2	0	2.29
Origin Bancorp	0	3	5	0	2.62

WesBanco presently has a consensus target price of $43.60, suggesting a potential upside of 11.65%. Origin Bancorp has a consensus target price of $58.00, suggesting a potential upside of 10.58%. Given WesBanco’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe WesBanco is more favorable than Origin Bancorp.

Risk & Volatility

WesBanco has a beta of 0.69, meaning that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Origin Bancorp has a beta of 0.74, meaning that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

61.4% of WesBanco shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.7% of Origin Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 2.1% of WesBanco shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.3% of Origin Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

WesBanco pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Origin Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. WesBanco pays out 43.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Origin Bancorp pays out 31.2% 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. WesBanco has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years and Origin Bancorp has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. WesBanco is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares WesBanco and Origin Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
WesBanco	23.70%	9.58%	1.32%
Origin Bancorp	16.26%	7.97%	1.00%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares WesBanco and Origin Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
WesBanco	$1.07 billion	3.51	$223.10 million	$3.48	11.22
Origin Bancorp	$597.80 million	2.71	$75.20 million	$3.20	16.39

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

Summary

WesBanco beats Origin Bancorp on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About WesBanco

WesBanco, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for WesBanco Bank, Inc. that provides retail banking, corporate banking, personal and corporate trust, brokerage, mortgage banking, and insurance services to individuals and businesses in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Community Banking, and Trust and Investment Services. It offers commercial demand, individual demand, and time deposit accounts; commercial, mortgage and individual installment loans; retail loans, such as residential real estate mortgage loans, home equity lines of credit, and loans for other consumer purposes; installment loans to finance the purchase of automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, boats, and other recreational vehicles, as well as home equity installment loans, unsecured home improvement loans, and revolving lines of credit; and various non-traditional offerings, such as insurance and securities brokerage services. The company also provides trust services; and various alternative investment products, including mutual funds and annuities. In addition, it acts as an agency that specializes in property, casualty, life, and title insurance, as well as benefit plan sales and administration to personal and commercial clients; provides broker dealer and discount brokerage services; holds investment securities and loans; and holds and leases commercial real estate properties, as well as acts as an investment adviser to a family of mutual funds. WesBanco, Inc. was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Wheeling, West Virginia.

About Origin Bancorp

Origin Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Origin Bank that provides banking and financial services to small and medium-sized businesses, municipalities, high net worth individuals, and retail clients in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. It offers noninterest and interest-bearing checking accounts, savings deposits, money market accounts, and time deposits; and offers commercial real estate, construction and land development, consumer, residential real estate, commercial and industrial, mortgage warehouse, residential mortgage, and paycheck protection program loans. The company also offers personal and commercial property, and casualty insurance products; and Internet banking and voice response information, mobile applications, cash management, overdraft protection, direct deposit, safe deposit box, U.S. savings bonds, and automatic account transfer services; and treasury management, mortgage origination and servicing facilities, peer-to-peer electronic pay solutions, and personal financial management solutions. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 44 banking centers. The company was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Ruston, Louisiana.