Financial Analysis: Hawthorn Bancshares (HWBK) vs. Its Peers

Hawthorn Bancshares (NASDAQ:HWBK) is one of 919 publicly-traded companies in the “Banks” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Hawthorn Bancshares to similar companies based on the strength of its earnings, risk, valuation, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Hawthorn Bancshares and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hawthorn Bancshares	0	0	1	0	3.00
Hawthorn Bancshares Competitors	7465	30196	27762	1465	2.35

As a group, “Banks” companies have a potential upside of 13.62%. Given Hawthorn Bancshares’ competitors higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Hawthorn Bancshares has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

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, Hawthorn Bancshares’ competitors have a beta of 0.61, indicating that their average stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

30.7% of Hawthorn Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.0% of shares of all “Banks” companies are held by institutional investors. 22.9% of Hawthorn Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.8% of shares of all “Banks” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Hawthorn Bancshares and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hawthorn Bancshares	$111.97 million	$23.80 million	10.15
Hawthorn Bancshares Competitors	$37.92 billion	$2.42 billion	17.48

Hawthorn Bancshares’ competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Hawthorn Bancshares. Hawthorn Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Hawthorn Bancshares and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hawthorn Bancshares	23.22%	16.28%	1.57%
Hawthorn Bancshares Competitors	15.64%	9.43%	0.93%

Dividends

Hawthorn Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Hawthorn Bancshares pays out 21.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Banks” companies pay a dividend yield of 9.1% and pay out 28.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Hawthorn Bancshares has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years.

Summary

Hawthorn Bancshares competitors beat Hawthorn Bancshares on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

Hawthorn Bancshares Company Profile

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.