Comparing Republic Bancorp (NASDAQ:RBCAA) and Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT)

Republic Bancorp (NASDAQ:RBCAA) and Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

24.4% of Republic Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of Stock Yards Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 56.6% of Republic Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of Stock Yards Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Republic Bancorp has a beta of 0.51, indicating that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Stock Yards Bancorp has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Republic Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.63 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Stock Yards Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Republic Bancorp pays out 31.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Stock Yards Bancorp pays out 34.1% 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. Republic Bancorp has increased its dividend for 26 consecutive years and Stock Yards Bancorp has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years. Republic Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Republic Bancorp and Stock Yards Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Republic Bancorp	0	1	0	0	2.00
Stock Yards Bancorp	0	4	0	0	2.00

Republic Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $80.00, indicating a potential upside of 3.80%. Stock Yards Bancorp has a consensus target price of $69.25, indicating a potential downside of 10.96%. Given Republic Bancorp’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Republic Bancorp is more favorable than Stock Yards Bancorp.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Republic Bancorp and Stock Yards Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Republic Bancorp	$427.52 million	3.51	$90.37 million	$5.26	14.65
Stock Yards Bancorp	$438.92 million	5.21	$107.75 million	$3.64	21.37

Stock Yards Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Republic Bancorp. Republic Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Stock Yards Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Republic Bancorp and Stock Yards Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Republic Bancorp	20.65%	10.79%	1.52%
Stock Yards Bancorp	21.62%	12.00%	1.29%

Summary

Stock Yards Bancorp beats Republic Bancorp on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Republic Bancorp

Republic Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Republic Bank & Trust Company that provides various banking products and services in the United States. It operates in six segments: Traditional Banking, Warehouse, Mortgage Banking, Tax Refund Solutions, Republic Payment Solutions, and Republic Credit Solutions. The company offers demand, money market accounts, savings, individual retirement accounts, time, brokered, and other certificates of deposit; and retail and commercial mortgage, construction and land development, consumer, aircraft, and marine loans. It also provides credit cards; title insurance and other financial products and services; and private banking, lockbox processing, remote deposit capture, business online banking, account reconciliation, automated clearing house processing, and internet and mobile banking services. In addition, it offers short-term and revolving credit facilities to mortgage bankers through mortgage warehouse lines of credit; mortgage banking; tax refund solutions, which facilitate the receipt and payment of federal and state tax refund products through third-party tax preparers and tax-preparation software providers; payments-related products and services to consumers through third party service providers; and consumer credit products. The company offers its services through full-services banking centers in Kentucky, Indiana, Florida, Ohio, and Tennessee. Republic Bancorp, Inc. was incorporated in 1974 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.

About Stock Yards Bancorp

Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. operates as a holding company for Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company that provides various financial services for individuals, corporations, and others in the United States. It operates in two segments, Commercial Banking, and WM&T. The Commercial Banking segment offers a range of loan and deposit products to individual consumers and businesses in all its markets through retail lending, mortgage banking, deposit services, online banking, mobile banking, private banking, commercial lending, commercial real estate lending, leasing, treasury management services, merchant services, international banking, correspondent banking, and other banking services. This segment also provides securities brokerage services through an arrangement with a third party broker-dealer. The WM&T segment provides investment management, financial and retirement planning, and trust and estate services, as well as retirement plan management for businesses and corporations. It provides services in Louisville, central, eastern, and northern Kentucky, as well as Indianapolis, Indiana and Cincinnati, Ohio metropolitan markets. The company was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.