Reviewing Glacier Bancorp (NYSE:GBCI) & Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB)

Glacier Bancorp (NYSE:GBCI) and Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Glacier Bancorp and Columbia Banking System”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Glacier Bancorp	$1.27 billion	4.10	$190.14 million	$2.04	21.52
Columbia Banking System	$2.97 billion	1.81	$533.67 million	$2.52	10.13

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

Dividends

Glacier Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Columbia Banking System pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. Glacier Bancorp pays out 64.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Columbia Banking System pays out 57.1% 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. Columbia Banking System has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Columbia Banking System is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility & Risk

Glacier Bancorp has a beta of 0.79, suggesting that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Columbia Banking System has a beta of 0.6, suggesting that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Glacier Bancorp and Columbia Banking System, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Glacier Bancorp	0	1	0	1	3.00
Columbia Banking System	0	13	3	1	2.29

Columbia Banking System has a consensus price target of $28.93, indicating a potential upside of 13.27%. Given Columbia Banking System’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Columbia Banking System is more favorable than Glacier Bancorp.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.2% of Glacier Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.5% of Columbia Banking System shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Glacier Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Columbia Banking System shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Glacier Bancorp and Columbia Banking System’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Glacier Bancorp	17.52%	7.11%	0.85%
Columbia Banking System	17.98%	11.31%	1.15%

Summary

Columbia Banking System beats Glacier Bancorp on 13 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. It offers non-interest bearing deposit and interest bearing deposit accounts, such as negotiable order of withdrawal and demand deposit accounts, savings accounts, money market deposit accounts, fixed rate certificates of deposit, negotiated-rate jumbo certificates, and individual retirement accounts. The company also provides construction and permanent loans on residential real estate; consumer land or lot acquisition loans; unimproved land and land development loans; and residential builder guidance lines comprising pre-sold and spec-home construction, and lot acquisition loans. In addition, it offers commercial real estate loans to purchase, construct, and finance commercial real estate properties; consumer loans secured by real estate, automobiles, or other assets; paycheck protection program loans; 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. Further, the company provides mortgage origination and loan servicing services. It has 224 locations, including 188 branches and 36 loan or administration offices in 75 counties within 8 states comprising Montana, Idaho, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada. The company was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Kalispell, Montana.

About Columbia Banking System

Columbia Banking System, Inc. operates as the holding company of Umpqua Bank that provides banking, private banking, mortgage, and other financial services in the United States. The company offers deposit products, including business, non-interest bearing checking, interest-bearing checking and savings, money market, and certificate of deposit accounts; and insured cash sweep and other investment sweep solutions. It also provides commercial lending products, such as commercial lines of credit and term loans, accounts receivable and inventory financing, international trade finance, commercial property loans, multifamily loans, equipment loans, commercial equipment leases, real estate construction loans and permanent financing, and small business administration program financing, as well as capital markets. In addition, the company offers wealth management comprising financial planning, investment, trust, and insurance; treasury management, which includes digital and mobile banking solutions, ACH, wires, positive pay, remote deposit capture, integrated payments, integrated receivables, lockbox, cash vault, real-time payments, commercial card, and foreign exchange and international banking related products, as well as merchant services; and brokerage services, residential real estate loans and consumer loans. It serves its products to corporate, institutional, small business, and individual customers. The company was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Tacoma, Washington.