Head-To-Head Comparison: Glacier Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBCI) vs. Isabella Bank (OTCMKTS:ISBA)

Glacier Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBCI) and Isabella Bank (OTCMKTS:ISBA) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Glacier Bancorp and Isabella Bank, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Glacier Bancorp	0	2	3	1	2.83
Isabella Bank	0	1	0	0	2.00

Glacier Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $52.00, indicating a potential upside of 24.10%. Isabella Bank has a consensus price target of $34.00, indicating a potential downside of 21.37%. Given Glacier Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Glacier Bancorp is more favorable than Isabella Bank.

Volatility & Risk

Glacier Bancorp has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Isabella Bank has a beta of 0.12, suggesting that its stock price is 88% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Glacier Bancorp and Isabella Bank”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Glacier Bancorp	$921.82 million	5.91	$190.14 million	$2.04	20.54
Isabella Bank	$72.85 million	4.35	$13.89 million	$2.46	17.58

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.2% of Glacier Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Glacier Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.7% of Isabella Bank shares are held by company 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

Glacier Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Isabella Bank pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Glacier Bancorp pays out 64.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Isabella Bank pays out 45.5% 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.

Profitability

This table compares Glacier Bancorp and Isabella Bank’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Glacier Bancorp	14.99%	5.98%	0.68%
Isabella Bank	13.28%	7.34%	0.73%

Summary

Glacier Bancorp beats Isabella Bank on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Glacier Bancorp

Glacier Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Glacier Bank that provides commercial banking services to individuals, small to medium-sized businesses, community organizations, and public entities in the United States. The company offers retail banking, business banking, and mortgage origination and loan servicing services. It also provides non-interest bearing deposit and interest bearing deposit accounts, such as negotiable order of withdrawal and demand deposit accounts, savings, money market deposits, fixed rate certificates of deposit, negotiated-rate jumbo certificates, and individual retirement accounts. In addition, the company offers construction and permanent loans on residential real estate; consumer land or lot loans; unimproved land and land development loans; and residential builder guidance lines comprising pre-sold and spec-home construction, and lot acquisition loans. Further, it provides commercial real estate loans to purchase, construct, and finance commercial real estate properties; consumer loans secured by real estate, automobiles, or other assets; home equity loans consisting of junior lien mortgages, and first and junior lien lines of credit secured by owner-occupied 1-4 family residences; and agriculture loans. Glacier Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Kalispell, Montana.

About Isabella Bank

Isabella Bank Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Isabella Bank that provides various banking products and services to businesses, institutions, and individuals and their families. Its deposit products include checking accounts, savings accounts, certificates of deposit, direct deposits, and money market accounts. The company's loan portfolio comprises commercial, agricultural, and residential real estate loans, as well as consumer loans, including secured and unsecured personal loans. It also offers cash management, mobile and internet banking, electronic bill pay, automated teller machines, trust and investment, estate planning, and safe deposit box rental services; and insurance products. The company operated banking offices in Clare, Gratiot, Isabella, Mecosta, Midland, Montcalm, and Saginaw counties. Isabella Bank Corporation was founded in 1903 and is headquartered in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.