Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:UNB) & Glacier Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBCI) Head to Head Contrast

Glacier Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBCI) and Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:UNB) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Glacier Bancorp and Union Bankshares’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Glacier Bancorp	$1.14 billion	4.49	$222.93 million	$1.75	25.71
Union Bankshares	$46.15 million	2.56	$11.26 million	$2.37	11.05

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

Dividends

Glacier Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Union Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. Glacier Bancorp pays out 75.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Union Bankshares pays out 60.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Union Bankshares has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years. Union Bankshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Glacier Bancorp and Union Bankshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Glacier Bancorp	15.15%	6.06%	0.66%
Union Bankshares	13.63%	16.36%	0.70%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

80.2% of Glacier Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 14.8% of Union Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Glacier Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Union Bankshares shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Glacier Bancorp has a beta of 0.8, suggesting that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Union Bankshares has a beta of 0.79, suggesting that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Glacier Bancorp and Union Bankshares, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Glacier Bancorp	0	3	2	0	2.40
Union Bankshares	0	0	0	0	N/A

Glacier Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $43.00, suggesting a potential downside of 4.44%. Given Glacier Bancorp’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Glacier Bancorp is more favorable than Union Bankshares.

Summary

Glacier Bancorp beats Union Bankshares on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Glacier Bancorp

Glacier Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Glacier Bank that provides commercial banking services to individuals, small to medium-sized businesses, community organizations, and public entities in the United States. The company offers retail banking, business banking, and mortgage origination and loan servicing services. It also provides non-interest bearing deposit and interest bearing deposit accounts, such as negotiable order of withdrawal and demand deposit accounts, savings, money market deposits, fixed rate certificates of deposit, negotiated-rate jumbo certificates, and individual retirement accounts. In addition, the company offers construction and permanent loans on residential real estate; consumer land or lot loans; unimproved land and land development loans; and residential builder guidance lines comprising pre-sold and spec-home construction, and lot acquisition loans. Further, it provides commercial real estate loans to purchase, construct, and finance commercial real estate properties; consumer loans secured by real estate, automobiles, or other assets; home equity loans consisting of junior lien mortgages, and first and junior lien lines of credit secured by owner-occupied 1-4 family residences; and agriculture loans. Glacier Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Kalispell, Montana.

About Union Bankshares

Union Bankshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Union Bank that provides retail, commercial, and municipal banking products and services in northern Vermont and New Hampshire. It offers retail depository services, such as personal checking, savings, money market, IRA/SEP/KEOGH, and health savings accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also provides commercial real estate loans; commercial loans for plant and equipment, working capital, real estate renovation, and other business purposes to business owners and investors; small business administration guaranteed loans; residential construction and mortgage loans; municipal financing, including loans and excess deposits secured by FHLBB letters of credit; and home improvement loans and overdraft checking privileges against preauthorized lines of credit. In addition, it offers online cash management services, including account reconciliation, credit card depository, automated clearing house origination, wire transfers, positive pay and night depository services; merchant credit card services for the deposit and immediate credit of sales drafts; remote deposit capture services; and online mortgage application and consumer deposit account opening services. Further, the company provides business checking accounts; standby letters of credit, bank checks or money orders, and safe deposit boxes; ATM cards and services; debit cards; telephone, internet, and mobile banking services, including bill pay; and wealth management, fiduciary, and trust services. It offers retail banking services to individuals; and commercial banking services to small and medium sized business corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, and sole proprietorships, as well as nonprofit organizations, local municipalities, and school districts. Union Bankshares, Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Morrisville, Vermont.