Harleysville Financial (OTCMKTS:HARL) vs. BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) Head to Head Analysis

Harleysville Financial (OTCMKTS:HARL) and BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability and earnings.

Dividends

Harleysville Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.0%. BancFirst pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Harleysville Financial pays out 57.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. BancFirst pays out 28.6% 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. BancFirst has increased its dividend for 31 consecutive years.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Harleysville Financial and BancFirst”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Harleysville Financial	$40.39 million	1.98	$2.05 million	$2.29	9.61
BancFirst	$809.34 million	5.02	$216.35 million	$6.44	19.04

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

1.2% of Harleysville Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.7% of BancFirst shares are owned by institutional investors. 14.5% of Harleysville Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 33.9% of BancFirst shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Harleysville Financial has a beta of 0.34, meaning that its share price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BancFirst has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Harleysville Financial and BancFirst’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Harleysville Financial	20.43%	9.74%	0.97%
BancFirst	23.52%	14.21%	1.68%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Harleysville Financial and BancFirst, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Harleysville Financial	0	0	0	0	0.00
BancFirst	1	2	0	0	1.67

BancFirst has a consensus price target of $113.33, indicating a potential downside of 7.55%. Given BancFirst’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe BancFirst is more favorable than Harleysville Financial.

Summary

BancFirst beats Harleysville Financial on 15 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Harleysville Financial

Harleysville Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Harleysville Bank that provides various banking products and services in Pennsylvania. The company offers various deposit products, including savings, money market, and checking accounts, as well as certificates of deposits. It also provides consumer loans, including residential mortgages, savings account loans, and home equity line of credit, construction, and non-real estate consumer loans; and commercial loans, such as commercial mortgages, line of credit, and commercial business loans. In addition, the company offers online banking and bill payment, mobile and telephone banking, remote deposit, debit cards, automated clearing house processing, sweep accounts, zero balance accounts, employee services, and other cash management services. Further, it provides investment services, such as financial consultation, cash and wealth management, education planning, investment strategy, insurance, retirement and estate planning, financial and goal planning, and asset allocation services, as well as offers investment products, such as fixed and variable annuities, mutual funds, life insurances, stocks and bonds, tax-advantaged investments, long-term care insurances, disability insurances, retirement plans/individual retirement accounts, wrap accounts, and unit investment trusts. Its primary market area includes Montgomery County and Bucks County. The company was formerly known as Harleysville Savings Financial Corporation and changed its name to Harleysville Financial Corporation in May 2017. Harleysville Financial Corporation was founded in 1915 and is headquartered in Harleysville, Pennsylvania.

About BancFirst

BancFirst Corporation operates as the bank holding company for BancFirst that provides a range of commercial banking services to retail customers, and small to medium-sized businesses. The company operates through BancFirst Metropolitan Banks, BancFirst Community Banks, Pegasus, Worthington, and Other Financial Services segments. It offers checking accounts, negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, sweep accounts, club accounts, individual retirement accounts, and certificates of deposit, as well as overdraft protection and auto draft services. The company also provides commercial and agricultural non-real estate loans for working capital, facilities acquisition or expansion, purchase of equipment, and other needs; lending services that include private banking, energy, commercial and residential real estate, and commercial and industrial loans; and loans to finance purchases of consumer goods, such as automobiles, boats, household goods, vacations, and education. In addition, it engages in the investment management and administration of trusts for individuals, corporations, and employee benefit plans, as well as bond trustee and paying agent business for various Oklahoma municipalities and governmental entities; and provision of item processing, research, and other correspondent banking services to financial institutions and governmental units. Further, the company provides insurance agency services; depository and funds transfer, collection, safe deposit box, cash management, and other services. It serves customers in non-metropolitan trade centers and cities in the metropolitan statistical areas of Oklahoma. The company was formerly known as United Community Corporation and changed its name to BancFirst Corporation in November 1988. BancFirst Corporation was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.