Analyzing Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania (NASDAQ:UVSP) and Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana (NASDAQ:HFBL)

Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana (NASDAQ:HFBL) and Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania (NASDAQ:UVSP) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, risk and profitability.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana and Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana	$35.17 million	2.08	$6.17 million	$2.00	12.08
Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania	$518.35 million	2.16	$90.76 million	$3.46	11.72

Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania has higher revenue and earnings than Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana. Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

21.1% of Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.1% of Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania shares are owned by institutional investors. 19.4% of Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana pays out 30.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania pays out 26.6% 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. Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana has increased its dividend for 11 consecutive years and Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana 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 recommendations for Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana and Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana	0	1	0	0	2.00
Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania	0	3	0	1	2.50

Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania has a consensus price target of $40.50, suggesting a potential downside of 0.12%. Given Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania is more favorable than Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana.

Profitability

This table compares Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana and Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana	17.56%	10.69%	0.98%
Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania	18.86%	10.41%	1.18%

Risk and Volatility

Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana has a beta of 0.41, indicating that its stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania beats Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana

Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana operates as the holding company for Home Federal Bank that provides various financial services to individuals, corporate entities, and other organizations. The company accepts various deposits, such as passbook savings, certificates of deposit, and demand deposit accounts. Its loan products include one-to-four family residential real estate loans; commercial real estate secured loans; multi-family residential loans; commercial business loans; land loans; construction loans; home equity and second mortgage loans; lines of credit; and consumer non-real estate loans, including loans secured by deposit accounts, automobile loans, overdrafts, and other unsecured loans. The company operates through branches in Shreveport, Bossier City, Minden, and Benton, Louisiana. The company was founded in 1924 and is based in Shreveport, Louisiana.

About Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania

Univest Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Univest Bank and Trust Co. that provides banking products and services primarily in the United States. It operates through three segments: Banking, Wealth Management, and Insurance. The Banking segment offers a range of banking services, such as deposit taking, loan origination and servicing, mortgage banking, other general banking, and equipment lease financing services for individuals, businesses, municipalities, and nonprofit organizations. Its Wealth Management segment provides investment advisory, financial planning, and trust and brokerage services for private families and individuals, municipal pension plans, retirement plans, and trusts and guardianships. The Insurance segment offers commercial property and casualty insurance, employee benefits solutions, personal insurance lines, and human resources consulting services. The company was formerly known as Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania and changed its name to Univest Financial Corporation in January 2019. The company was founded in 1876 and is headquartered in Souderton, Pennsylvania.