Contrasting Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) & Zions Bancorporation, National Association (NASDAQ:ZION)

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) and Zions Bancorporation, National Association (NASDAQ:ZION) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, profitability and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Sandy Spring Bancorp and Zions Bancorporation, National Association, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sandy Spring Bancorp	0	4	0	0	2.00
Zions Bancorporation, National Association	1	16	1	0	2.00

Sandy Spring Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $28.25, indicating a potential downside of 21.11%. Zions Bancorporation, National Association has a consensus price target of $57.06, indicating a potential upside of 1.39%. Given Zions Bancorporation, National Association’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Zions Bancorporation, National Association is more favorable than Sandy Spring Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares Sandy Spring Bancorp and Zions Bancorporation, National Association’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sandy Spring Bancorp	11.54%	5.71%	0.65%
Zions Bancorporation, National Association	14.09%	13.89%	0.88%

Dividends

Sandy Spring Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Zions Bancorporation, National Association pays an annual dividend of $1.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Sandy Spring Bancorp pays out 71.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Zions Bancorporation, National Association pays out 39.2% 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. Zions Bancorporation, National Association has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years.

Volatility & Risk

Sandy Spring Bancorp has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Zions Bancorporation, National Association has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

66.9% of Sandy Spring Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.8% of Zions Bancorporation, National Association shares are held by institutional investors. 3.4% of Sandy Spring Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of Zions Bancorporation, National Association shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Sandy Spring Bancorp and Zions Bancorporation, National Association”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sandy Spring Bancorp	$394.67 million	4.10	$122.84 million	$1.90	18.85
Zions Bancorporation, National Association	$3.04 billion	2.73	$680.00 million	$4.39	12.82

Zions Bancorporation, National Association has higher revenue and earnings than Sandy Spring Bancorp. Zions Bancorporation, National Association is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sandy Spring Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Zions Bancorporation, National Association beats Sandy Spring Bancorp on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sandy Spring Bancorp

Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Sandy Spring Bank that provides commercial and retail banking, mortgage, private banking, and trust services to individuals and businesses in the United States. It offers financial products and services, including various loan and deposit products. Its loan products include commercial real estate loans, construction loans, and business loans; residential real estate loans; and consumer loans comprising home equity loans and lines, installment loans, and personal lines of credit. The company provides investment management, financial planning, and wealth management services. Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1868 and is headquartered in Olney, Maryland.

About Zions Bancorporation, National Association

Zions Bancorporation, National Association provides various banking products and related services primarily in the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. It operates through Zions Bank, California Bank & Trust, Amegy Bank, National Bank of Arizona, Nevada State Bank, Vectra Bank Colorado, and The Commerce Bank of Washington segments. The company offers commercial and small business banking services to small- and medium-sized businesses, such as commercial, industrial, and owner-occupied lending and leasing; municipal and public finance services; depository account and cash management services; commercial and small business cards; merchant processing services; corporate trust services; and correspondent banking and international lending services. It also provides capital markets and investment banking services, including loan syndications, foreign exchange services, interest rate derivatives, fixed income securities underwriting, advisory and capital raising, commercial mortgage-backed security conduit lending, and power and project financing; and commercial real estate lending services consisting of term and construction/land development financing for commercial and residential purposes. In addition, the company offers retail banking services comprising residential mortgages, home equity lines of credit, personal lines of credit, installment consumer loans, depository account services, consumer cards, and personal trust services; and wealth management services consisting of investment management, fiduciary and estate, and advanced business succession and estate planning services. The company was formerly known as ZB, National Association and changed its name to Zions Bancorporation, National Association in September 2018. Zions Bancorporation, National Association was founded in 1873 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.