TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) & Capital City Bank Group (NASDAQ:CCBG) Head-To-Head Review

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) and Capital City Bank Group (NASDAQ:CCBG) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for TowneBank and Capital City Bank Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TowneBank	0	1	1	0	2.50
Capital City Bank Group	0	2	1	0	2.33

TowneBank currently has a consensus target price of $40.50, indicating a potential upside of 11.88%. Capital City Bank Group has a consensus target price of $38.33, indicating a potential upside of 8.01%. Given TowneBank’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe TowneBank is more favorable than Capital City Bank Group.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares TowneBank and Capital City Bank Group”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TowneBank	$1.03 billion	2.65	$161.76 million	$2.15	16.84
Capital City Bank Group	$270.63 million	2.22	$52.92 million	$3.12	11.38

TowneBank has higher revenue and earnings than Capital City Bank Group. Capital City Bank Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than TowneBank, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares TowneBank and Capital City Bank Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TowneBank	15.77%	7.77%	0.96%
Capital City Bank Group	19.55%	11.45%	1.25%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

56.0% of TowneBank shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.6% of Capital City Bank Group shares are held by institutional investors. 8.1% of TowneBank shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.4% of Capital City Bank Group shares are held by company 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

TowneBank pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Capital City Bank Group pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. TowneBank pays out 46.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Capital City Bank Group pays out 29.5% 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. TowneBank has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. TowneBank is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Risk and Volatility

TowneBank has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Capital City Bank Group has a beta of 0.56, suggesting that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

TowneBank beats Capital City Bank Group on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TowneBank

TowneBank provides retail and commercial banking services for individuals, commercial enterprises, and professionals. The company operates through three segments: Banking, Realty, and Insurance. It accepts various deposits, including demand deposits, savings accounts, money rate savings, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts. The company also offers secured and unsecured personal loans for financing automobiles, home improvements, education, and personal investments; commercial loans for working capital, business expansion, and equipment and machinery purchases; and mortgage loans, as well as real estate acquisition, development, and construction loans. In addition, it provides other services, such as safe deposit boxes, treasury management services, direct deposit of payroll and social security checks, and automatic drafts for various accounts, as well as online, mobile, and on-call banking services. Further, the company offers documentation services to accomplish tax deferral to investors; investment and asset management services; commercial mortgage brokerage services; and other financial services, such as financial, retirement, and estate planning services, as well as assistance on various investment options comprising alternative investments, annuities, margin accounts, convertible bonds, and pension and profit-sharing plans. Additionally, it provides residential real estate, relocation, property management, vacation rentals, and title and settlement services; and originates residential mortgage loans. The company also offers life, property, casualty, and vehicle insurance services; and employee benefit programs, such as health, dental, vision, and disability insurance. It operates in Richmond, Virginia, the Greater Hampton Roads region in southeastern Virginia, northeastern North Carolina, Raleigh, Charlotte, Greensboro, and Greenville, North Carolina. TowneBank was incorporated in 1998 and is based in Portsmouth, Virginia.

About Capital City Bank Group

Capital City Bank Group, Inc. operates as the financial holding company for Capital City Bank that provides a range of banking- related services to individual and corporate clients. The company offers financing for commercial business properties, equipment, inventories, and accounts receivable, as well as commercial leasing and letters of credit; treasury management services; and merchant credit card transaction processing services. It also provides commercial and residential real estate lending products, as well as fixed and adjustable-rate residential mortgage loans; personal, automobile, boat/RV, and home equity loans; and credit card programs. In addition, the company offers institutional banking services, including customized checking and savings accounts, cash management systems, tax-exempt loans, lines of credit, and term loans to meet the needs of state and local governments, public schools and colleges, charities, membership, and not-for-profit associations. Further, it provides consumer banking services comprising checking accounts, savings programs, interactive/automated teller machines, debit/credit cards, night deposit services, safe deposit facilities, and online and mobile banking services. Additionally, the company provides asset management for individuals through agency, personal trust, IRA, and personal investment management accounts; and various retail securities products, such as the U.S. government bonds, tax-free municipal bonds, stocks, mutual funds, unit investment trusts, annuities, life insurance, and long-term health care, as well as business, estate, financial, insurance and business planning, tax planning, and asset protection advisory services. Capital City Bank Group, Inc. was founded in 1895 and is headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida.