Analyzing Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria (NYSE:BBVA) & Atlantic Union Bankshares (NYSE:AUB)

Atlantic Union Bankshares (NYSE:AUB) and Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria (NYSE:BBVA) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Atlantic Union Bankshares and Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Atlantic Union Bankshares	0	3	5	0	2.62
Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria	0	7	1	0	2.12

Atlantic Union Bankshares presently has a consensus target price of $45.57, indicating a potential upside of 11.45%. Given Atlantic Union Bankshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Atlantic Union Bankshares is more favorable than Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Atlantic Union Bankshares and Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Atlantic Union Bankshares	$1.53 billion	3.81	$273.71 million	$3.35	12.21
Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria	$42.54 billion	3.87	$11.89 billion	$2.20	13.40

Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria has higher revenue and earnings than Atlantic Union Bankshares. Atlantic Union Bankshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Atlantic Union Bankshares has a beta of 0.78, indicating that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

78.6% of Atlantic Union Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.0% of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Atlantic Union Bankshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Atlantic Union Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria pays an annual dividend of $1.13 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Atlantic Union Bankshares pays out 44.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria pays out 51.4% 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. Atlantic Union Bankshares has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Atlantic Union Bankshares and Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Atlantic Union Bankshares	21.97%	10.55%	1.41%
Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria	27.75%	18.05%	1.27%

Summary

Atlantic Union Bankshares beats Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Atlantic Union Bankshares

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Atlantic Union Bank that provides banking and related financial products and services to consumers and businesses in the United States. It operates in two segments, Wholesale Banking and Consumer Banking. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, time deposit, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; and other depository services. It also provides loans for commercial, industrial, residential mortgage, and consumer purposes, as well as debit and credit cards. In addition, it provides treasury management and capital market, wealth management, private banking, trust, financial and retirement planning, brokerage, investment management, equipment finance, mortgage banking, and insurance products and services. The company offers products and services through full-service branches and ATMs, as well as through its mobile and internet banking. The company was formerly known as Union Bankshares Corporation and changed its name to Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation in May 2019. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Glen Allen, Virginia.

About Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. provides retail banking, wholesale banking, and asset management services in the United States, Spain, Mexico, Turkey, South America, and internationally. The company offers savings account, demand deposits, and time deposits; and loan products, such as residential mortgages, other households, credit card loans, loans to enterprises and public sector, as well as consumer finance. It provides insurance and asset management business, including corporate, commercial, SME, payment systems, retail, private and investment banking, pension and life insurance, leasing, factoring, and brokerage. The company provides its products through online and mobile channels. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. was founded in 1857 and is headquartered in Bilbao, Spain.