Southern National Bancorp of Virginia (SONA) Competitors

Southern National Bancorp of Virginia (NASDAQ:SONA) and Community Trust Bancorp (NASDAQ:CTBI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, media sentiment, risk, dividends, earnings and institutional ownership.

Which has better valuation & earnings, SONA or CTBI?

Community Trust Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Southern National Bancorp of Virginia. Southern National Bancorp of Virginia is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Community Trust Bancorp, 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
Southern National Bancorp of Virginia	$133.11M	1.60	$33.17M	$1.48	5.91
Community Trust Bancorp	$248.56M	3.38	$82.81M	$4.61	10.08

Do analysts recommend SONA or CTBI?

Community Trust Bancorp has a consensus price target of $61.00, suggesting a potential upside of 31.29%. Given Community Trust Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Community Trust Bancorp is more favorable than Southern National Bancorp of Virginia.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Southern National Bancorp of Virginia	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Community Trust Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of SONA or CTBI?

77.2% of Southern National Bancorp of Virginia shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.2% of Community Trust Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 5.9% of Southern National Bancorp of Virginia shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.3% of Community Trust Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor SONA or CTBI?

Community Trust Bancorp received 54 more outperform votes than Southern National Bancorp of Virginia when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 52.67% of users gave Community Trust Bancorp an outperform vote while only 39.59% of users gave Southern National Bancorp of Virginia an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Southern National Bancorp of Virginia	Outperform Votes 173 39.59%	Underperform Votes 264 60.41%
Community Trust Bancorp	Outperform Votes 227 52.67%	Underperform Votes 204 47.33%

Is SONA or CTBI more profitable?

Community Trust Bancorp has a net margin of 22.02% compared to Southern National Bancorp of Virginia's net margin of 17.12%. Community Trust Bancorp's return on equity of 11.36% beat Southern National Bancorp of Virginia's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Southern National Bancorp of Virginia	17.12%	7.23%	0.94%
Community Trust Bancorp	22.02%	11.36%	1.41%

Is SONA or CTBI a better dividend stock?

Southern National Bancorp of Virginia pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. Community Trust Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Southern National Bancorp of Virginia pays out 27.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Community Trust Bancorp pays out 40.8% 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. Community Trust Bancorp has raised its dividend for 44 consecutive years. Southern National Bancorp of Virginia is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media refer more to SONA or CTBI?

In the previous week, Community Trust Bancorp had 7 more articles in the media than Southern National Bancorp of Virginia. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Community Trust Bancorp and 0 mentions for Southern National Bancorp of Virginia. Community Trust Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.27 beat Southern National Bancorp of Virginia's score of 0.00 indicating that Community Trust Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Southern National Bancorp of Virginia	Neutral
Community Trust Bancorp	Positive

Which has more volatility and risk, SONA or CTBI?

Southern National Bancorp of Virginia has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Community Trust Bancorp has a beta of 0.62, meaning that its stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Community Trust Bancorp beats Southern National Bancorp of Virginia on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.