Columbia Banking System (COLB) Competitors

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) and Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, community ranking, profitability, dividends and earnings.

Do analysts rate COLB or HWC?

Columbia Banking System presently has a consensus price target of $27.12, suggesting a potential downside of 10.27%. Hancock Whitney has a consensus price target of $56.89, suggesting a potential downside of 1.95%. Given Hancock Whitney's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Hancock Whitney is more favorable than Columbia Banking System.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Columbia Banking System	0 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.23
Hancock Whitney	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Is COLB or HWC a better dividend stock?

Columbia Banking System pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Hancock Whitney pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Columbia Banking System pays out 62.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hancock Whitney pays out 35.9% 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.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, COLB or HWC?

Hancock Whitney has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Columbia Banking System. Hancock Whitney is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Columbia Banking System, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Columbia Banking System	$2.74B	2.31	$348.71M	$2.31	13.08
Hancock Whitney	$1.91B	2.62	$392.60M	$4.46	13.01

Which has more risk and volatility, COLB or HWC?

Columbia Banking System has a beta of 0.62, indicating that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hancock Whitney has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is COLB or HWC more profitable?

Hancock Whitney has a net margin of 19.30% compared to Columbia Banking System's net margin of 16.15%. Hancock Whitney's return on equity of 11.47% beat Columbia Banking System's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Columbia Banking System	16.15%	10.13%	0.98%
Hancock Whitney	19.30%	11.47%	1.28%

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in COLB or HWC?

Columbia Banking System received 212 more outperform votes than Hancock Whitney when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 46.61% of users gave Hancock Whitney an outperform vote while only 42.79% of users gave Columbia Banking System an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Columbia Banking System	Outperform Votes 267 42.79%	Underperform Votes 357 57.21%
Hancock Whitney	Outperform Votes 55 46.61%	Underperform Votes 63 53.39%

Does the media favor COLB or HWC?

In the previous week, Columbia Banking System had 3 more articles in the media than Hancock Whitney. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for Columbia Banking System and 8 mentions for Hancock Whitney. Hancock Whitney's average media sentiment score of 1.46 beat Columbia Banking System's score of 1.28 indicating that Hancock Whitney is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Columbia Banking System	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Hancock Whitney	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of COLB or HWC?

92.5% of Columbia Banking System shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.2% of Hancock Whitney shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Columbia Banking System shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Hancock Whitney 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.

Summary

Hancock Whitney beats Columbia Banking System on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.