Which Is a Better Investment, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp or Hilltop Holdings Inc. Stock?

By AAII Staff
December 03, 2025
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Sifting through countless of stocks in the Banks industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Hilltop Holdings Inc. or Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Hilltop Holdings Inc. and Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Hilltop Holdings Inc. and Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation

Hilltop Holdings Inc. provides business and consumer banking services. It operates through three segments: Banking, Broker-Dealer, and Mortgage Origination. The Banking segment offers savings, checking, interest-bearing checking, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; lines and letters of credit, home improvement and equity loans, loans for purchasing and carrying securities, term, agricultural and commercial real estate, equipment loans, and other lending products; and mortgage, commercial and industrial loans, and term and construction finance. It provides treasury management, asset management, check cards, safe deposit boxes, online banking, bill pay, and overdraft privilege services; and estate planning, management and administration, investment portfolio management, employee benefit accounts, and individual retirement accounts services, as well as automated teller machines. The Broker-Dealer segment offers public finance services that assist public entities in originating, syndicating, and distributing securities of municipalities and political subdivisions; specialized advisory and investment banking services; advice and guidance to arbitrage rebate compliance, portfolio management, and local government investment pool administration; advisory services and products for derivatives and commodities; agricultural insurance; and sells, trades in, and underwrites U.S. government and government agency bonds, corporate bonds, and municipal bonds; mortgage-backed, asset-backed, and commercial mortgage-backed securities and structured products; and provides asset and liability management advisory, clearing, retail, and securities lending services. The Mortgage Origination segment offers fixed and adjustable rate mortgages, jumbo, new construction, Federal Housing Administration, Veterans Affairs, and United States Department of Agriculture loans. Hilltop Holdings Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Atlantic Union Bank that provides banking and related financial products and services to consumers and businesses in the United States. It operates in two segments, Wholesale Banking and Consumer Banking. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, time deposit, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; and other depository services. It provides loans for commercial, industrial, residential mortgage, and consumer purposes, as well as debit and credit cards. In addition, it provides treasury management and capital market, wealth management, private banking, trust, financial and retirement planning, brokerage, investment management, equipment finance, mortgage banking, and insurance products and services. The company offers products and services through full-service branches and ATMs, as well as through its mobile and internet banking. The company was formerly known as Union Bankshares Corporation and changed its name to Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation in May 2019. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Glen Allen, Virginia.

Latest Banks and Hilltop Holdings Inc., Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation Stock News

As of December 2, 2025, Hilltop Holdings Inc. had a $2.1 billion market capitalization, compared to the Banks median of $486.3 million. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s stock is NA in 2025, NA in the previous five trading days and up 8.4% in the past year.

Currently, Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 13.8. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $1.3 billion with a 12.7% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 8.4%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $1.730 per share for the current fiscal year. Hilltop Holdings Inc. currently has a 2.1% dividend yield.

Currently, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 19.5. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $1.0 billion with a 20.9% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 65.3%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $3.163 per share for the current fiscal year. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation currently has a 4.3% dividend yield.

How We Compare Hilltop Holdings Inc. and Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Hilltop Holdings Inc. and Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Hilltop Holdings Inc. and Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation Stock Value Grades

Company Ticker Value
Hilltop Holdings Inc. HTH B
Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation AUB C

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a Value Score of 79, which is Value. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation has a Value Score of 50, which is Average.

The Value Stock Winner: Hilltop Holdings Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Value Grade breakdown above, Hilltop Holdings Inc. is considered to have better value than Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation. For investors who focus solely on a company’s valuation, Hilltop Holdings Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. and Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation Growth Grades

Company Ticker Growth
Hilltop Holdings Inc. HTH D
Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation AUB C

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a Growth Score of 26, which is Weak. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation has a Growth Score of 47, which is Average.

The Growth Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Hilltop Holdings Inc. or Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation has a high enough Growth Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Hilltop Holdings Inc. or Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation is the better investment when it comes to sustainable growth.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. and Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation’s Quality Grades

Company Ticker Quality
Hilltop Holdings Inc. HTH D
Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation AUB F

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a Quality Score of 37, which is Weak. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation has a Quality Score of 4, which is Very Weak.

The Quality Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Hilltop Holdings Inc. or Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation has a high enough Quality Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Hilltop Holdings Inc. or Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation is the better investment when it comes to quality.

Don’t Forget Your Free Special Report on How A+ Grades Can Help You Make Investment Decisions

Other Hilltop Holdings Inc. and Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation Grades

In addition to Growth, Value and Quality, A+ Investor also provides grades for Momentum and Estimate Revisions.

Invest with Confidence with A+ Investor

AAII’s expansive and robust screening tools like A+ Investor help investors make confident decisions.

Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming.

Earnings estimate revisions scores take into account the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, surprises beget further surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Hilltop Holdings Inc. and Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Hilltop Holdings Inc. or Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation Stock?

Overall, Hilltop Holdings Inc. stock has a Value Score of 79, Growth Score of 26 and Quality Score of 37.

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation stock has a Value Score of 50, Growth Score of 47 and Quality Score of 4.

Comparing Hilltop Holdings Inc. and Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

Learn More About A+ Investor

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.



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