Glacier Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBCI – Get Free Report) and Colony Bankcorp (NASDAQ:CBAN – Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, earnings, valuation and risk.
Dividends
Glacier Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Colony Bankcorp pays an annual dividend of $0.46 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Glacier Bancorp pays out 68.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Colony Bankcorp pays out 29.1% 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. Colony Bankcorp has raised its dividend for 7 consecutive years. Colony Bankcorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Glacier Bancorp and Colony Bankcorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Glacier Bancorp | $877.23 million | 6.63 | $190.14 million | $1.92 | 25.56 |
| Colony Bankcorp | $121.88 million | 2.45 | $23.87 million | $1.58 | 10.81 |
Glacier Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Colony Bankcorp. Colony Bankcorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Glacier Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk & Volatility
Glacier Bancorp has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Colony Bankcorp has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent recommendations for Glacier Bancorp and Colony Bankcorp, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Glacier Bancorp | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2.71 |
| Colony Bankcorp | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
Glacier Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $51.67, suggesting a potential upside of 5.29%. Colony Bankcorp has a consensus price target of $21.00, suggesting a potential upside of 22.95%. Given Colony Bankcorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Colony Bankcorp is more favorable than Glacier Bancorp.
Profitability
This table compares Glacier Bancorp and Colony Bankcorp’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% |
| Colony Bankcorp | 13.51% | 9.64% | 0.85% |
Insider & Institutional Ownership
80.2% of Glacier Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 50.4% of Colony Bankcorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Glacier Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.6% of Colony Bankcorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
Glacier Bancorp beats Colony Bankcorp on 10 of the 18 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 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.
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