The stocks of banks and financial institutions are called bank stocks. Such financial institutions are highly regulated and are licensed to hold deposits and give loans to businesses and individuals.
Bank stocks experience similar risks and rewards as other public company stocks; however, due to their regulated nature, they are subject to additional risks on top of the general market sentiments, economic, and political factors.
Bank stocks are largely affected by additional interest rate risk, counterparty risk, and regulatory risk as banks’ assets and liabilities are quite sensitive to interest rates, government regulations, and counterparties.
Ticker | Company Name | Last Price | 1-Year Return | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BAC | Bank of America Corporation | $47.77 | 103.54% | 393.8B |
| BAP | Credicorp Ltd. | $130.38 | 13.18% | 12.3B |
| BMO | Bank of Montreal | $111.92 | 86.32% | 72.5B |
| BNS | The Bank of Nova Scotia | $66.88 | 64.00% | 81.4B |
| BSAC | Banco Santander-Chile | $17.84 | 20.54% | 8.4B |
| C | Citigroup Inc. | $70.56 | 71.55% | 143.0B |
| CM | Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce | $122.09 | 67.22% | 54.4B |
| CMA | Comerica Incorporated | $84.92 | 101.38% | 11.1B |
| FRC | First Republic Bank | $214.20 | 73.02% | 38.3B |
| GWB | Great Western Bancorp, Inc. | $34.52 | 171.38% | 1.9B |
| HOMB | Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) | $23.28 | 44.15% | 3.8B |
| IBN | ICICI Bank Limited | $21.22 | 100.95% | 75.0B |
| JPM | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | $169.17 | 75.23% | 505.5B |
| NCBS | Nicolet Bankshares, Inc. | $71.09 | 17.16% | 849.7M |
| OFG | OFG Bancorp | $25.55 | 81.59% | 1.3B |
| PNC | The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. | $212.84 | 95.77% | 90.5B |
| PUB | People's Utah Bancorp | $57.10 | 93.56% | 14.5B |
| PVBC | Provident Bancorp, Inc. | $17.37 | 105.08% | 315.1M |
| RNST | Renasant Corporation | $37.65 | 32.29% | 2.1B |
| RY | Royal Bank of Canada | $106.35 | 55.30% | 151.7B |
| SFBC | Sound Financial Bancorp, Inc. | $43.50 | #N/A | 113.9M |
| SFNC | Simmons First National Corporation | $29.37 | 79.30% | 3.4B |
| SFST | Southern First Bancshares, Inc. | $52.57 | 98.00% | 415.3M |
| STL | Sterling Bancorp | $25.38 | 102.23% | 4.9B |
| TD | The Toronto-Dominion Bank | $73.23 | 68.62% | 133.6B |
| TSC | TriState Capital Holdings, Inc. | $30.18 | 143.39% | 1.0B |
| UBOH | United Bancshares, Inc. | $29.67 | #N/A | 97.2M |
| UNTY | Unity Bancorp, Inc. | $25.20 | 83.94% | 261.3M |
| WFC | Wells Fargo & Company | $51.03 | 140.93% | 204.0B |
| USB | U.S. Bancorp | $60.33 | 61.74% | 89.4B |
| FITB | Fifth Third Bancorp | $43.53 | 93.98% | 30.0B |
| KEY | KeyCorp | $23.37 | 88.47% | 22.4B |
| HBAN | Huntington Bancshares Incorporated | $15.91 | 61.85% | 23.5B |
| CBSH | Commerce Bancshares, Inc. | $69.87 | 20.01% | 8.1B |
| TCF | TCF Financial Corporation | $0.18 | 100.00% | 12.4M |
| TFSL | TFS Financial Corporation | $19.41 | 23.39% | 5.4B |
| CFG | Citizens Financial Group, Inc. | $47.35 | 82.96% | 20.2B |
| SBNY | Signature Bank | $293.19 | 277.82% | 17.7B |
| SNV | Synovus Financial Corp. | $46.68 | 92.49% | 6.8B |
| FCNCA | First Citizens BancShares, Inc. | $821.40 | 85.66% | 8.0B |
| UBSI | United Bankshares, Inc. | $35.80 | 42.57% | 4.6B |
| BKU | BankUnited, Inc. | $40.57 | 67.51% | 3.7B |
| AUB | Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation | $35.34 | 44.54% | 2.7B |
| MTB | M&T Bank Corporation | $147.68 | 52.59% | 19.0B |
| WBS | Webster Financial Corporation | $55.38 | 80.57% | 5.0B |
| VLY | Valley National Bancorp | $13.44 | 80.16% | 5.5B |
| FULT | Fulton Financial Corporation | $16.14 | 53.86% | 2.6B |
| INDB | Independent Bank Corp. | $82.32 | 47.39% | 2.7B |
| NBTB | NBT Bancorp Inc. | $36.50 | 35.79% | 1.6B |
| SIVB | SVB Financial Group | $700.96 | 151.66% | 41.1B |
| ZION | Zions Bancorporation, National Association | $62.86 | 105.42% | 10.2B |
| WAL | Western Alliance Bancorporation | $114.92 | 197.18% | 12.0B |
| PACW | PacWest Bancorp | $46.18 | 152.49% | 5.5B |
| UMPQ | Umpqua Holdings Corporation | $19.97 | 67.53% | 4.3B |
| FHB | First Hawaiian, Inc. | $27.43 | 67.56% | 3.5B |
| GBCI | Glacier Bancorp, Inc. | $54.14 | 52.21% | 6.0B |
| CVBF | CVB Financial Corp. | $19.85 | 16.08% | 2.7B |
| BBT | BB&T Corporation | $0.03 | -83.33% | 4.3M |
| RF | Regions Financial Corporation | $23.46 | 84.29% | 22.4B |
| FHN | First Horizon National Corporation | $16.88 | 68.80% | 9.3B |
| PNFP | Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. | $96.56 | 124.77% | 7.3B |
| FNB | F.N.B. Corporation | $11.70 | 62.05% | 3.7B |
| OZK | Bank OZK | $43.46 | 79.44% | 5.6B |
| BOKF | BOK Financial Corporation | $100.35 | 75.87% | 6.9B |
| CFR | Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. | $129.59 | 94.64% | 8.2B |
| PB | Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. | $74.45 | 39.42% | 6.9B |
| FFIN | First Financial Bankshares, Inc. | $49.63 | 67.61% | 7.1B |
| UMBF | UMB Financial Corporation | $97.00 | 65.87% | 4.7B |
| TCBI | Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc. | $59.77 | 35.87% | 3.0B |
| IBOC | International Bancshares Corporation | $41.56 | 55.60% | 2.6B |
How Banks Make Money
Banks make money by lending money to people who want to borrow the money, and they charge them interest on the loan. For instance, if someone wants to borrow $2,000 from a bank for one year with a 12% annual percentage rate (APR), then that person would have to pay back $2,208. The bank’s profit is the interest they charge the borrower. This is one of a few ways the bank makes money.
In addition to charging interest on loans, banks also charge fees for other financial services they provide like real estate loans, credit cards and debit cards. Banks also make money by buying securities on the stock market to earn interest from those investments.
Another way banks make money is by trading stocks and bonds for their customers. Banks earn extra fees from the trades they make for their customers if it is a large amount of stock or bonds being traded. Banks may offer this type of service for insitutions. They may also offer smaller money management programs for their retail customers.
Banks can be privately owned, publicly traded on the stock market or completely backed by the government. The U.S Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insures all bank accounts up to at least $250 thousand per person with each account covered separately.
Factors to Consider Before Investing in Bank Stocks
Bank stocks are, undoubtedly, exposed to various risks due to their regulated nature. However, the regulations also lend stability and strong future growth to bank stocks.
After considering all the possible risks and their implications, investors must perform an in-depth fundamental analysis of the financial institutions before investing in bank stocks. The factors that determine the profitability and growth of a financial institution include return on equity, return on assets, net interest margin, and efficiency ratio.
It is integral to assess and quantify the inherent risks before making any investments. The reading of non-performing loan ratios, coverage for bad loans, and net chargeoffs are fundamental parts in understanding a financial institution’s health. For example, knowing that an underlying bank has many regular customers who rely on its loans can help judge how well it may be able to weather hard times ahead; whereas if the majority of debtors defaulted in the past year this could indicate future difficulties due to their recent instability as a business entity
Which Bank Stocks Should I Buy?
Bank stocks are the right avenues of investment for steady and regular returns. Among the hundreds of bank stocks, we have aggregated a list of the top bank stocks for you to choose from. The most useful metric to decide which bank stocks to buy is the price-to-tangible book value ratio.
Bank stocks that trade between 0.5 times of book value to 2 times of book value are considered to be safe investments. On the other hand, bank stocks trading at more than two times of book value have limited reward potential and high-risk potential.
