Head to Head Contrast: Hawthorn Bancshares (NASDAQ:HWBK) and Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana (NASDAQ:HFBL)

Hawthorn Bancshares (NASDAQ:HWBK) and Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana (NASDAQ:HFBL) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, risk and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Hawthorn Bancshares and Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hawthorn Bancshares	0	0	1	0	3.00
Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana	0	1	0	0	2.00

Profitability

This table compares Hawthorn Bancshares and Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hawthorn Bancshares	22.77%	15.15%	1.42%
Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana	17.56%	10.69%	0.98%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

30.7% of Hawthorn Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 21.1% of Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana shares are owned by institutional investors. 22.9% of Hawthorn Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 19.4% of Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Hawthorn Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Hawthorn Bancshares pays out 22.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana pays out 30.0% 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. Hawthorn Bancshares has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana has increased its dividend for 11 consecutive years. Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Risk and Volatility

Hawthorn Bancshares has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its stock price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana has a beta of 0.41, indicating that its stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Hawthorn Bancshares and Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hawthorn Bancshares	$111.97 million	2.35	$23.80 million	$3.82	9.98
Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana	$35.17 million	2.08	$6.17 million	$2.00	12.06

Hawthorn Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana. Hawthorn Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Hawthorn Bancshares beats Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hawthorn Bancshares

Hawthorn Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Hawthorn Bank that provides various banking services in the United States. It accepts checking, savings, money market, individual retirement, and other time deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also offers commercial and industrial, single payment personal, installment, commercial and residential real estate, and consumer loans, as well as equipment, operating, and small business administration loans; and debit and credit cards. In addition, it provides trust services that include estate planning, investment, and asset management services; and cash management, safety deposit box, brokerage, and Internet banking services. Hawthorn Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1865 and is headquartered in Jefferson City, Missouri.

About Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana

Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana operates as the holding company for Home Federal Bank that provides various financial services to individuals, corporate entities, and other organizations. The company accepts various deposits, such as passbook savings, certificates of deposit, and demand deposit accounts. Its loan products include one-to-four family residential real estate loans; commercial real estate secured loans; multi-family residential loans; commercial business loans; land loans; construction loans; home equity and second mortgage loans; lines of credit; and consumer non-real estate loans, including loans secured by deposit accounts, automobile loans, overdrafts, and other unsecured loans. The company operates through branches in Shreveport, Bossier City, Minden, and Benton, Louisiana. The company was founded in 1924 and is based in Shreveport, Louisiana.