Head-To-Head Survey: Colony Bankcorp (NASDAQ:CBAN) vs. Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF)

Colony Bankcorp (NASDAQ:CBAN) and Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, earnings and dividends.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Colony Bankcorp and Heartland Financial USA’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Colony Bankcorp	$160.55 million	1.26	$21.75 million	$1.24	9.27
Heartland Financial USA	$932.87 million	1.61	$79.92 million	$1.69	20.80

Heartland Financial USA has higher revenue and earnings than Colony Bankcorp. Colony Bankcorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Heartland Financial USA, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Colony Bankcorp has a beta of 0.53, meaning that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Heartland Financial USA has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Colony Bankcorp and Heartland Financial USA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Colony Bankcorp	13.55%	9.32%	0.74%
Heartland Financial USA	8.57%	11.56%	1.01%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Colony Bankcorp and Heartland Financial USA, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Colony Bankcorp	0	0	0	0	N/A
Heartland Financial USA	0	2	2	1	2.80

Heartland Financial USA has a consensus price target of $39.80, indicating a potential upside of 13.23%. Given Heartland Financial USA’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Heartland Financial USA is more favorable than Colony Bankcorp.

Dividends

Colony Bankcorp pays an annual dividend of $0.45 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Heartland Financial USA pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Colony Bankcorp pays out 36.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Heartland Financial USA pays out 71.0% 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. Colony Bankcorp has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years and Heartland Financial USA has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years. Colony Bankcorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

50.4% of Colony Bankcorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.6% of Heartland Financial USA shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.2% of Colony Bankcorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Heartland Financial USA shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Heartland Financial USA beats Colony Bankcorp on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Colony Bankcorp

Colony Bankcorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Colony Bank that provides various banking products and services to commercial and consumer customers. The company offers deposit products, including demand, savings, and time deposits. It also provides loans to small and medium-sized businesses; residential and commercial construction, and land development loans; commercial real estate loans; commercial loans; agri-business and production loans; residential mortgage loans; home equity loans; and consumer loans. In addition, the company offers internet banking services, electronic bill payment services, safe deposit box rentals, telephone banking, credit and debit card services, and remote depository products, as well as access to a network of ATMs. The company was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Fitzgerald, Georgia.

About Heartland Financial USA

Heartland Financial USA, Inc., a bank holding company, provides commercial, small business, and consumer banking services to individuals and businesses in the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, demand deposit accounts, NOW accounts, savings, money market, and individual retirement; certificates of deposit; and other time deposits. It offers loans, including commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, agricultural, small business, and real estate mortgage loans; consumer loans comprising motor vehicle, home improvement, home equity line of credit, and fixed rate home equity and personal lines of credit; and credit cards for commercial, business, and personal use. In addition, the company provides business and personal online banking, and mobile banking; bill payment, remote deposit capture, and treasury management services; debit cards; automated teller machines; and automated clearing house services, wire transfers, insured cash sweeps, zero balance accounts, lockbox, image cash letter, remote deposit capture, commercial cards for travel and entertainment purchasing, merchant services to receive credit card payments, investment sweep accounts, reconciliation services, online invoice processing, foreign exchange and positive pay fraud prevention services for checks and automated clearing house services payments. Further, it offers wealth management, trust services, brokerage services, and fixed rate annuity products; and investment services, including mutual funds, individual retirement products, and education savings products. Heartland Financial USA, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.