Contrasting Surrey Bancorp (OTCMKTS:SRYB) and SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB)

Surrey Bancorp (OTCMKTS:SRYB) and SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Surrey Bancorp and SouthState’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Surrey Bancorp	37.97%	N/A	N/A
SouthState	22.38%	9.62%	1.21%

Volatility & Risk

Surrey Bancorp has a beta of 0.65, suggesting that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SouthState has a beta of 0.77, suggesting that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

3.7% of Surrey Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.8% of SouthState shares are held by institutional investors. 33.7% of Surrey Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of SouthState shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Surrey Bancorp and SouthState, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Surrey Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00
SouthState	0	1	8	2	3.09

SouthState has a consensus price target of $116.45, suggesting a potential upside of 23.30%. Given SouthState’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe SouthState is more favorable than Surrey Bancorp.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Surrey Bancorp and SouthState”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Surrey Bancorp	$16.20 million	4.23	$5.10 million	$1.52	10.99
SouthState	$1.88 billion	5.09	$534.78 million	$6.33	14.92

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

Dividends

Surrey Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. SouthState pays an annual dividend of $2.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Surrey Bancorp pays out 31.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SouthState pays out 34.1% 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. SouthState has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Surrey Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

SouthState beats Surrey Bancorp on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Surrey Bancorp

Surrey BanCorp engages in the provision of banking solutions through its subsidiaries, Surrey Bank & Trust . It offers checking accounts, savings, deposit services, mortgages, real estate loans, commercial credit products, business checking, and electronic banking. The company was founded on May 1, 2003 and is headquartered in Mount Airy, NC.

About SouthState

SouthState Corporation operates as the bank holding company for SouthState Bank, National Association that provides a range of banking services and products to individuals and companies. It offers checking accounts, savings deposits, interest-bearing transaction accounts, certificates of deposits, money market accounts, and other time deposits, as well as bond accounting, asset/liability consulting related activities, and other clearing and corporate checking account services. The company also offers commercial real estate loans, residential real estate loans, commercial, and industrial loans, as well as consumer loans, including auto, boat, and personal installment, as well as business, agriculture, real estate-secured (mortgage), home improvement, and manufactured housing loans. In addition, it provides debit card, mobile services, funds transfer products and services, and treasury management services comprising merchant, automated clearing house, lock-box, remote deposit capture, and other treasury services, as well as asset and wealth management, and other fiduciary and private banking services. Further, the company offers safe deposit boxes, bank money orders, wire transfer, brokerage services, and alternative investment products, including annuities, mutual funds, and trust management services; and credit cards, letters of credit, and home equity lines of credit. The company also serves its customers through online, mobile, and telephone banking platforms. The company was formerly known as First Financial Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to SouthState Corporation in July 2013. SouthState Corporation was founded in 1933 and is headquartered in Winter Haven, Florida.