Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) and Princeton Bancorp (NASDAQ:BPRN) Financial Survey

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) and Princeton Bancorp (NASDAQ:BPRN) 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, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Columbia Banking System and Princeton Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Columbia Banking System	0	8	5	1	2.50
Princeton Bancorp	0	2	1	1	2.75

Columbia Banking System presently has a consensus price target of $33.62, indicating a potential upside of 11.90%. Princeton Bancorp has a consensus price target of $37.50, indicating a potential downside of 13.97%. Given Columbia Banking System’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Columbia Banking System is more favorable than Princeton Bancorp.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

92.5% of Columbia Banking System shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.4% of Princeton Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Columbia Banking System shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 23.1% of Princeton Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Columbia Banking System and Princeton Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Columbia Banking System	19.96%	11.33%	1.31%
Princeton Bancorp	18.99%	9.48%	1.15%

Volatility and Risk

Columbia Banking System has a beta of 0.62, indicating that its stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Princeton Bancorp has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its stock price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Columbia Banking System pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. Princeton Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Columbia Banking System pays out 59.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Princeton Bancorp pays out 36.8% 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. Columbia Banking System has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Columbia Banking System is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Columbia Banking System and Princeton Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Columbia Banking System	$3.21 billion	2.64	$550.00 million	$2.51	11.97
Princeton Bancorp	$139.02 million	2.14	$18.61 million	$3.80	11.47

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

Summary

Columbia Banking System beats Princeton Bancorp on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Columbia Banking System

Columbia Banking System, Inc. operates as the holding company of Umpqua Bank that provides banking, private banking, mortgage, and other financial services in the United States. The company offers deposit products, including business, non-interest bearing checking, interest-bearing checking and savings, money market, and certificate of deposit accounts; and insured cash sweep and other investment sweep solutions. It also provides commercial lending products, such as commercial lines of credit and term loans, accounts receivable and inventory financing, international trade finance, commercial property loans, multifamily loans, equipment loans, commercial equipment leases, real estate construction loans and permanent financing, and small business administration program financing, as well as capital markets. In addition, the company offers wealth management comprising financial planning, investment, trust, and insurance; treasury management, which includes digital and mobile banking solutions, ACH, wires, positive pay, remote deposit capture, integrated payments, integrated receivables, lockbox, cash vault, real-time payments, commercial card, and foreign exchange and international banking related products, as well as merchant services; and brokerage services, residential real estate loans and consumer loans. It serves its products to corporate, institutional, small business, and individual customers. The company was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Tacoma, Washington.

About Princeton Bancorp

Princeton Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for The Bank of Princeton that provides various banking products and services. It accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, attorney trust, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also offers traditional retail banking services, one-to-four-family residential mortgage loans, multi-family and commercial mortgage loans, construction loans, and commercial business loans, as well as consumer loans, including home equity loans and lines of credit. In addition, it provides debit and credit cards, and money orders, direct deposit, automated teller machines, cashier's checks, safe deposit boxes, online banking, wire transfers, night depository, remote deposit capture, bank-by-mail, online, and automated telephone banking services, as well as payroll-related services and merchant credit card processing services. Further, the company offers full on-line statements, on-line bill payment, account inquiries, mobile banking, transaction histories and details, and account-to-account transfer services. Princeton Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey.