Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBANL) and Pinnacle Financial Partners (NYSE:PNFP) Critical Contrast

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBANL) and Pinnacle Financial Partners (NYSE:PNFP) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends and earnings.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Huntington Bancshares and Pinnacle Financial Partners”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Huntington Bancshares	$9.68 billion	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Pinnacle Financial Partners	$3.32 billion	2.46	$641.86 million	$7.28	14.47

Pinnacle Financial Partners has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Huntington Bancshares.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Huntington Bancshares and Pinnacle Financial Partners, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Huntington Bancshares	0	0	0	0	0.00
Pinnacle Financial Partners	0	4	13	2	2.89

Pinnacle Financial Partners has a consensus price target of $117.00, suggesting a potential upside of 11.06%. Given Pinnacle Financial Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Pinnacle Financial Partners is more favorable than Huntington Bancshares.

Profitability

This table compares Huntington Bancshares and Pinnacle Financial Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Huntington Bancshares	N/A	N/A	N/A
Pinnacle Financial Partners	15.40%	10.93%	1.24%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

87.4% of Pinnacle Financial Partners shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Pinnacle Financial Partners shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Huntington Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.9%. Pinnacle Financial Partners pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Pinnacle Financial Partners pays out 27.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Pinnacle Financial Partners has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Summary

Pinnacle Financial Partners beats Huntington Bancshares on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Huntington Bancshares

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated operates as the bank holding company for The Huntington National Bank that provides commercial, consumer, and mortgage banking services in the United States. The company offers financial products and services to consumer and business customers, including deposits, lending, payments, mortgage banking, dealer financing, investment management, trust, brokerage, insurance, and other financial products and services. It also provides 24-hour grace, asterisk-free checking, money scout, $50 safety zone, standby cash, early pay, instant access, savings goal getter, and Huntington heads up; digitally powered consumer and business financial solutions to consumer lending, regional banking, branch banking, and wealth management customers; direct and indirect consumer loans, as well as dealer finance loans and deposits; and private banking, wealth management and legacy planning through investment and portfolio management, fiduciary administration and trust, institutional custody, and full-service retail brokerage investment services. The company offers equipment financing, asset-based lending, distribution finance, structured lending, and municipal financing solutions, as well as Huntington ChoicePay. In addition, it offers lending, liquidity, treasury management and other payment services, and capital markets; government and non-profits, healthcare, technology and telecommunications, franchises, financial sponsors, and global services; and corporate risk management, institutional sales and trading, debt and equity issuance, and additional advisory services. The company offers its products through a network of channels, including branches and ATMs, online and mobile banking, and through customer call centers to customers in middle market banking, corporate, specialty, and government banking, asset finance, commercial real estate banking, and capital markets. The company was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

About Pinnacle Financial Partners

Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Pinnacle Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals, businesses, and professional entities in the United States. It accepts various deposits, including savings, noninterest-bearing and interest-bearing checking, money market, and certificate of deposit accounts; and provides treasury management services, such as online wire origination, enhanced ACH origination, positive pay, zero balance and sweep accounts, automated bill pay services, electronic receivables processing, lockbox processing, and merchant card acceptance services, small business and commercial credit cards corporate purchasing cards, and virtual accounting/deposit escrow solutions. The company also offers equipment and working capital loan; commercial real estate loans, such as investment properties and business loan; secured and unsecured loans comprising installment and term, lines of credit, and residential first mortgage, as well as home equity loans and home equity lines of credit; and credit cards for consumers and businesses. In addition, the company provides investment products; brokerage and investment advisory programs; and fiduciary and investment services, including personal trust, investment management, estate administration, endowments, foundations, individual retirement accounts, escrow services, and custody. Further, it offers insurance agency services in the property and casualty area; investment, merger and acquisition advisory services, private debt, equity and mezzanine, and other middle-market advisory services; and other banking services, including telephone and online banking, mobile banking, debit cards, direct deposit and remote deposit capture, mobile deposit option, automated teller machine, and cash management services. Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.