Comparing WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) & U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) and WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares U.S. Bancorp and WesBanco’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
U.S. Bancorp	12.92%	12.91%	0.96%
WesBanco	14.79%	5.75%	0.78%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for U.S. Bancorp and WesBanco, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
U.S. Bancorp	0	11	9	0	2.45
WesBanco	0	3	3	0	2.50

U.S. Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $52.02, suggesting a potential downside of 2.73%. WesBanco has a consensus target price of $36.17, suggesting a potential upside of 2.02%. Given WesBanco’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe WesBanco is more favorable than U.S. Bancorp.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

77.6% of U.S. Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.4% of WesBanco shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of U.S. Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.4% of WesBanco shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares U.S. Bancorp and WesBanco”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
U.S. Bancorp	$40.62 billion	2.05	$5.43 billion	$3.27	16.35
WesBanco	$831.96 million	2.85	$159.03 million	$2.09	16.96

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

Dividends

U.S. Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. WesBanco pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. U.S. Bancorp pays out 61.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. WesBanco pays out 68.9% 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. U.S. Bancorp has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years and WesBanco has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years.

Risk and Volatility

U.S. Bancorp has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WesBanco has a beta of 0.81, suggesting that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

U.S. Bancorp beats WesBanco on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About U.S. Bancorp

U.S. Bancorp, a financial services holding company, provides various financial services to individuals, businesses, institutional organizations, governmental entities, and other financial institutions in the United States. It operates through Wealth, Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking; Consumer and Business Banking; Payment Services; and Treasury and Corporate Support segments. The company offers depository services, including checking accounts, savings accounts, and time certificate contracts; and lending services, such as traditional credit products and credit card services, lease financing and import/export trade, asset-backed lending, agricultural finance, and other products. It also provides ancillary services comprising capital markets, treasury management, and receivable lock-box collection services to corporate and governmental entity customers. In addition, the company offers asset management and fiduciary services for individuals, estates, foundations, business corporations, and charitable organizations. Further, it provides investment and insurance products to its customers principally within its domestic markets, as well as fund administration services to mutual and other funds. Additionally, the company provides corporate and purchasing card, and corporate trust services. Furthermore, it offers trust and investment management, merchant and ATM processing, mortgage banking, insurance, and brokerage and leasing services. U.S. Bancorp was founded in 1863 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

About WesBanco

WesBanco, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for WesBanco Bank, Inc. that provides retail banking, corporate banking, personal and corporate trust, brokerage, mortgage banking, and insurance services to individuals and businesses in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Community Banking, and Trust and Investment Services. It offers commercial demand, individual demand, and time deposit accounts; commercial, mortgage and individual installment loans; retail loans, such as residential real estate mortgage loans, home equity lines of credit, and loans for other consumer purposes; installment loans to finance the purchase of automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, boats, and other recreational vehicles, as well as home equity installment loans, unsecured home improvement loans, and revolving lines of credit; and various non-traditional offerings, such as insurance and securities brokerage services. The company also provides trust services; and various alternative investment products, including mutual funds and annuities. In addition, it acts as an agency that specializes in property, casualty, life, and title insurance, as well as benefit plan sales and administration to personal and commercial clients; provides broker dealer and discount brokerage services; holds investment securities and loans; and holds and leases commercial real estate properties, as well as acts as an investment adviser to a family of mutual funds. WesBanco, Inc. was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Wheeling, West Virginia.