United Community Banks (UCB) Competitors

Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY) and United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCB) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, media sentiment, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability and earnings.

Is ALLY or UCB a better dividend stock?

Ally Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. United Community Banks pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Ally Financial pays out 88.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. United Community Banks pays out 45.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. United Community Banks is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do analysts prefer ALLY or UCB?

Ally Financial presently has a consensus target price of $42.67, suggesting a potential upside of 8.59%. United Community Banks has a consensus target price of $33.14, suggesting a potential upside of 7.64%. Given Ally Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Ally Financial is more favorable than United Community Banks.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ally Financial	1 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.47
United Community Banks	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.43

Is ALLY or UCB more profitable?

United Community Banks has a net margin of 16.48% compared to Ally Financial's net margin of 6.96%. Ally Financial's return on equity of 9.53% beat United Community Banks' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ally Financial	6.96%	9.53%	0.59%
United Community Banks	16.48%	8.64%	1.04%

Do insiders and institutionals believe in ALLY or UCB?

88.8% of Ally Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.3% of United Community Banks shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Ally Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of United Community Banks shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, ALLY or UCB?

Ally Financial has higher revenue and earnings than United Community Banks. United Community Banks is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ally Financial, 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
Ally Financial	$8.45B	1.43	$668M	$1.36	28.89
United Community Banks	$938.98M	3.98	$252.40M	$2.11	14.59

Does the media refer more to ALLY or UCB?

In the previous week, Ally Financial had 7 more articles in the media than United Community Banks. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for Ally Financial and 9 mentions for United Community Banks. United Community Banks' average media sentiment score of 1.43 beat Ally Financial's score of 0.73 indicating that United Community Banks is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ally Financial	4 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
United Community Banks	8 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, ALLY or UCB?

Ally Financial has a beta of 1.15, meaning that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Community Banks has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Ally Financial beats United Community Banks on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.