Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) and Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) Financial Contrast

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

Volatility and Risk

Metropolitan Bank has a beta of 1.13, suggesting that its share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bank OZK has a beta of 1.17, suggesting that its share price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Metropolitan Bank and Bank OZK”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Metropolitan Bank	$403.31 million	1.41	$76.90 million	$6.08	8.35
Bank OZK	$1.62 billion	2.90	$690.78 million	$5.97	6.96

Bank OZK has higher revenue and earnings than Metropolitan Bank. Bank OZK is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Metropolitan Bank, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Metropolitan Bank and Bank OZK, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Metropolitan Bank	0	0	4	0	3.00
Bank OZK	2	5	1	0	1.88

Metropolitan Bank presently has a consensus price target of $61.88, suggesting a potential upside of 21.87%. Bank OZK has a consensus price target of $46.71, suggesting a potential upside of 12.37%. Given Metropolitan Bank’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Metropolitan Bank is more favorable than Bank OZK.

Profitability

This table compares Metropolitan Bank and Bank OZK’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Metropolitan Bank	15.22%	10.47%	0.98%
Bank OZK	27.04%	14.50%	2.01%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

79.8% of Metropolitan Bank shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.2% of Bank OZK shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.5% of Metropolitan Bank shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.7% of Bank OZK shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Bank OZK beats Metropolitan Bank on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Metropolitan Bank

Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Metropolitan Commercial Bank that provides a range of business, commercial, and retail banking products and services to small businesses, middle-market enterprises, public entities, and individuals in the New York metropolitan area. The company offers checking, savings, term deposit, money market, demand deposit, and other interest-bearing transaction accounts. It also provides lending products, including commercial real estate, multi-family, construction, and one-to four-family real estate loans; commercial and industrial loans; consumer loans; acquisition and renovation loans; loans to refinance or return borrower equity; loans on owner-occupied properties; working capital lines of credit; trade finance and letters of credit; and term loans. In addition, the company offers cash management services, as well as online and mobile banking, ACH, remote deposit capture, and debit cards. The company was formerly known as Metbank Holding Corp. and changed its name to Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. in January 2007. Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Bank OZK

Bank OZK provides various retail and commercial banking services for individuals and businesses in the United States. The company offers deposit services, including non-interest bearing checking, interest bearing transaction, business sweep, savings, money market, individual retirement, and other accounts, as well as time and reciprocal deposits. It also provides trust and wealth services, such as personal trusts, custodial accounts, investment management accounts, and retirement accounts, as well as corporate trust services, including trustee, paying agent and registered transfer agent services, and other related services. In addition, the company offers treasury management services comprising automated clearing house, wire transfer, transaction reporting, wholesale lockbox, remote deposit capture, automated credit line transfer, reconciliation, positive pay, commercial card, and other services, as well as zero balance and investment sweep accounts. Further, it provides real estate, consumer, small business, indirect recreational vehicle and marine, equipment, agricultural, commercial and industrial, government guaranteed, lines of credit, homebuilder, and affordable housing loans; lender and structured, business aviation, and subscription financing services; and mortgage and other lending products. Additionally, the company offers ATMs; telephone, online, and mobile banking services; credit and debit cards; safe deposit boxes; and other products and services. The company was formerly known as Bank of the Ozarks and changed its name to Bank OZK in July 2018. Bank OZK was founded in 1903 and is headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas.