Contrasting Signature Bank (NASDAQ:SBNY) & TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN)

TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) and Signature Bank (NASDAQ:SBNY) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, earnings and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for TowneBank and Signature Bank, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TowneBank	0	0	2	0	3.00
Signature Bank	0	0	0	0	0.00

TowneBank presently has a consensus target price of $36.00, suggesting a potential downside of 2.23%. Given TowneBank’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe TowneBank is more favorable than Signature Bank.

Profitability

This table compares TowneBank and Signature Bank’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TowneBank	14.89%	7.32%	0.90%
Signature Bank	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares TowneBank and Signature Bank”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TowneBank	$941.58 million	2.93	$153.71 million	$1.99	18.50
Signature Bank	$3.71 billion	N/A	$1.34 billion	N/A	N/A

Signature Bank has higher revenue and earnings than TowneBank.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

56.0% of TowneBank shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 11.1% of Signature Bank shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.1% of TowneBank shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Signature Bank shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

TowneBank has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Signature Bank has a beta of 9.44, suggesting that its stock price is 844% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

TowneBank beats Signature Bank on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TowneBank

TowneBank provides retail and commercial banking services for individuals, commercial enterprises, and professionals. The company operates through three segments: Banking, Realty, and Insurance. It accepts various deposits, including demand deposits, savings accounts, money rate savings, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts. The company also offers secured and unsecured personal loans for financing automobiles, home improvements, education, and personal investments; commercial loans for working capital, business expansion, and equipment and machinery purchases; and mortgage loans, as well as real estate acquisition, development, and construction loans. In addition, it provides other services, such as safe deposit boxes, treasury management services, direct deposit of payroll and social security checks, and automatic drafts for various accounts, as well as online, mobile, and on-call banking services. Further, the company offers documentation services to accomplish tax deferral to investors; investment and asset management services; commercial mortgage brokerage services; and other financial services, such as financial, retirement, and estate planning services, as well as assistance on various investment options comprising alternative investments, annuities, margin accounts, convertible bonds, and pension and profit-sharing plans. Additionally, it provides residential real estate, relocation, property management, vacation rentals, and title and settlement services; and originates residential mortgage loans. The company also offers life, property, casualty, and vehicle insurance services; and employee benefit programs, such as health, dental, vision, and disability insurance. It operates in Richmond, Virginia, the Greater Hampton Roads region in southeastern Virginia, northeastern North Carolina, Raleigh, Charlotte, Greensboro, and Greenville, North Carolina. TowneBank was incorporated in 1998 and is based in Portsmouth, Virginia.

About Signature Bank

As of March 12, 2023, Signature Bank went out of business. Previously, the company provided digital assets banking services and comprised of certain loan portfolios. The company was incorporated in 2000 and is based in New York, New York. Signature Bank now trades on OTCPK.