Financial Review: Park National (NYSE:PRK) vs. Pacific Valley Bancorp (OTCMKTS:PVBK)

Park National (NYSE:PRK) and Pacific Valley Bancorp (OTCMKTS:PVBK) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Park National and Pacific Valley Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Park National	0	2	0	0	2.00
Pacific Valley Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00

Park National currently has a consensus price target of $181.75, indicating a potential upside of 14.07%. Given Park National’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Park National is more favorable than Pacific Valley Bancorp.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

62.7% of Park National shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.8% of Pacific Valley Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.7% of Park National shares are owned by 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 & Volatility

Park National has a beta of 0.73, indicating that its stock price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pacific Valley Bancorp has a beta of 0.35, indicating that its stock price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Park National and Pacific Valley Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Park National	23.46%	12.31%	1.50%
Pacific Valley Bancorp	14.62%	N/A	N/A

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Park National and Pacific Valley Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Park National	$520.61 million	4.95	$151.42 million	$9.31	17.11
Pacific Valley Bancorp	$30.26 million	1.58	$4.42 million	$0.90	10.76

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

Summary

Park National beats Pacific Valley Bancorp on 13 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Park National

Park National Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Park National Bank that provides commercial banking and trust services in small and medium population areas. The company offers deposits for demand, savings, and time accounts; trust and wealth management services; cash management services; safe deposit operations; electronic funds transfers; Internet and mobile banking solutions with bill pay service; credit cards; and various additional banking-related services. It also provides commercial loans, including financing for industrial and commercial properties, financing for equipment, inventory and accounts receivable, acquisition financing, and commercial leasing, as well as for consumer finance companies; commercial real estate loans comprising mortgage loans to developers and owners of commercial real estate; originates financing leases primarily for the purchase of commercial vehicles, operating/manufacturing equipment, and municipal vehicles/equipment; consumer loans, such as automobile loans; consumer finance services; home equity lines of credit; and residential real estate and construction loans, as well as installment loans and commercial loans. In addition, the company offers aircraft financing services; and ParkDirect, a personal banking application. Park National Corporation was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Newark, Ohio.

About Pacific Valley Bancorp

Pacific Valley Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Pacific Valley Bank that provides various banking products and services in the United States. The company offers personal and business banking, including checking accounts, savings and money market accounts, and certificates of deposit; and online solutions, such as online and mobile banking, bill pay, remote deposit capture, positive pay, e-statements, and order checks. It also provides commercial or agriculture lines of credit, commercial or agriculture terms loans, commercial constructions loans, agriculture production lending, and government guaranteed loan programs; and debit card, incoming wire instructions, ATM locator, fraud prevention, identity theft, and FDIC insurance estimator services. The company was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Salinas, California.