Critical Survey: Blue Ridge Bankshares (NASDAQ:BRBS) vs. Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB)

Blue Ridge Bankshares (NASDAQ:BRBS) and Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, earnings and dividends.

Volatility and Risk

Blue Ridge Bankshares has a beta of 0.8, meaning that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Associated Banc has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Blue Ridge Bankshares and Associated Banc”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Blue Ridge Bankshares	$92.23 million	3.16	-$15.39 million	($0.64)	-5.20
Associated Banc	$1.03 billion	3.64	$123.14 million	$0.79	28.55

Associated Banc has higher revenue and earnings than Blue Ridge Bankshares. Blue Ridge Bankshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Associated Banc, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Blue Ridge Bankshares and Associated Banc, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Blue Ridge Bankshares	0	0	0	0	0.00
Associated Banc	0	9	1	0	2.10

Associated Banc has a consensus target price of $27.11, suggesting a potential upside of 20.20%. Given Associated Banc’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Associated Banc is more favorable than Blue Ridge Bankshares.

Profitability

This table compares Blue Ridge Bankshares and Associated Banc’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Blue Ridge Bankshares	-8.84%	-5.48%	-0.52%
Associated Banc	5.15%	8.24%	0.82%

Dividends

Blue Ridge Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $0.49 per share and has a dividend yield of 14.7%. Associated Banc pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Blue Ridge Bankshares pays out -76.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Associated Banc pays out 116.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Blue Ridge Bankshares has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years and Associated Banc has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Blue Ridge Bankshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

50.5% of Blue Ridge Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.0% of Associated Banc shares are held by institutional investors. 4.9% of Blue Ridge Bankshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Associated Banc shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Associated Banc beats Blue Ridge Bankshares on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Blue Ridge Bankshares

Blue Ridge Bankshares, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for the Blue Ridge Bank, National Association that provides commercial and consumer banking, and financial services. It operates through: Commercial Banking and Mortgage Banking segments. The company accepts checking, savings, money market, cash management, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also offers commercial and industrial, residential mortgages, commercial mortgages, home equity, consumer installment, and guaranteed government loans; and residential mortgage loans and mortgages loans on real estate. In addition, it provides wire, direct deposit payroll, remote deposit, electronic statement, and other services; and property and casualty insurance products to individuals and businesses, as well as online, mobile, and telephone banking services. Further, the company offers employee benefit plans and administration services; management services for personal and corporate trusts, including estate planning and settlement, and trust administration, investment and wealth management services. It operates in Callao, Charlottesville, Chester, Colonial Heights, Culpeper, Fredericksburg, Gordonsville, Harrisonburg, Hartfield, Henrico, Kilmarnock, Louisa, Luray, Martinsville, Midlothian, Mineral, Montross, Orange, Petersburg, Richmond, Shenandoah, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, Warsaw, and White Stone, Virginia; and Greensboro, North Carolina. The company was founded in 1893 and is headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia.

About Associated Banc

Associated Banc-Corp, a bank holding company, provides various banking and nonbanking products to individuals and businesses in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota. The company offers lending solutions, including commercial loans and lines of credit, commercial real estate financing, construction loans, letters of credit, leasing, asset based lending and equipment finance, loan syndications products, residential mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, personal and installment loans, auto finance and business loans, and business lines of credit. It also provides deposit and cash management solutions, such as commercial checking and interest-bearing deposit products, cash vault and night depository services, liquidity solutions, payables and receivables solutions, and information services; specialized financial services, such as interest rate risk management and foreign exchange solutions; fiduciary services, such as administration of pension, profit-sharing and other employee benefit plans, fiduciary and corporate agency services, and institutional asset management services; and investable funds solutions, including savings, money market deposit accounts, IRA accounts, CDs, fixed and variable annuities, full-service, discount, and online investment brokerage; investment advisory services; and trust and investment management accounts. In addition, the company offers deposit and transactional solutions, including checking, credit, debit and pre-paid cards, online banking and bill pay; and money transfer services. Associated Banc-Corp was founded in 1861 and is headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin.