Eagle Bancorp Montana (NASDAQ:EBMT) and Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) Financial Review

Eagle Bancorp Montana (NASDAQ:EBMT) and Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership and profitability.

Volatility and Risk

Eagle Bancorp Montana has a beta of 0.35, suggesting that its stock price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Associated Banc has a beta of 0.79, suggesting that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Eagle Bancorp Montana and Associated Banc, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eagle Bancorp Montana	0	3	1	0	2.25
Associated Banc	0	6	6	0	2.50

Eagle Bancorp Montana currently has a consensus price target of $23.50, indicating a potential upside of 2.71%. Associated Banc has a consensus price target of $30.30, indicating a potential upside of 6.16%. Given Associated Banc’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Associated Banc is more favorable than Eagle Bancorp Montana.

Profitability

This table compares Eagle Bancorp Montana and Associated Banc’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eagle Bancorp Montana	12.16%	8.36%	0.73%
Associated Banc	19.88%	10.46%	1.10%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Eagle Bancorp Montana and Associated Banc”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Eagle Bancorp Montana	$92.84 million	1.96	$14.84 million	$1.98	11.56
Associated Banc	$2.46 billion	1.93	$474.78 million	$2.88	9.91

Associated Banc has higher revenue and earnings than Eagle Bancorp Montana. Associated Banc is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Eagle Bancorp Montana, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

35.7% of Eagle Bancorp Montana shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.0% of Associated Banc shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.8% of Eagle Bancorp Montana shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Associated Banc shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Eagle Bancorp Montana pays an annual dividend of $0.58 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Associated Banc pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Eagle Bancorp Montana pays out 29.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Associated Banc pays out 33.3% 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. Eagle Bancorp Montana has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years and Associated Banc has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Summary

Associated Banc beats Eagle Bancorp Montana on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Eagle Bancorp Montana

Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Opportunity Bank of Montana that provides various retail banking products and services to small businesses and individuals in Montana. It accepts various deposit products, such as checking, savings, money market, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit accounts. The company also provides 1-4 family residential mortgage loans, such as residential mortgages and construction of residential properties; commercial real estate loans, including multi-family dwellings, nonresidential property, commercial construction and development, and farmland loans; and second mortgage/home equity loans. In addition, it offers consumer loans, such as loans secured by collateral other than real estate, such as automobiles, recreational vehicles, and boats; personal loans and lines of credit; commercial business loans consisting of business loans and lines of credit on a secured and unsecured basis; construction loans; agricultural loans; and mortgage loan services. The company operates full-service branches and automated teller machines. Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. was founded in 1922 and is headquartered in Helena, Montana.

About Associated Banc

Associated Banc-Corp, a bank holding company, provides various banking and nonbanking products to individuals and businesses in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota. The company offers lending solutions, including commercial loans and lines of credit, commercial real estate financing, construction loans, letters of credit, leasing, asset based lending and equipment finance, loan syndications products, residential mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, personal and installment loans, auto finance and business loans, and business lines of credit. It also provides deposit and cash management solutions, such as commercial checking and interest-bearing deposit products, cash vault and night depository services, liquidity solutions, payables and receivables solutions, and information services; specialized financial services, such as interest rate risk management and foreign exchange solutions; fiduciary services, such as administration of pension, profit-sharing and other employee benefit plans, fiduciary and corporate agency services, and institutional asset management services; and investable funds solutions, including savings, money market deposit accounts, IRA accounts, CDs, fixed and variable annuities, full-service, discount, and online investment brokerage; investment advisory services; and trust and investment management accounts. In addition, the company offers deposit and transactional solutions, including checking, credit, debit and pre-paid cards, online banking and bill pay; and money transfer services. Associated Banc-Corp was founded in 1861 and is headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin.