Origin Bancorp (NASDAQ:OBK) & Colony Bankcorp (NASDAQ:CBAN) Head to Head Analysis

Origin Bancorp (NASDAQ:OBK) and Colony Bankcorp (NASDAQ:CBAN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Origin Bancorp and Colony Bankcorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Origin Bancorp	0	0	5	0	3.00
Colony Bankcorp	0	0	0	0	0.00

Origin Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $42.20, suggesting a potential upside of 10.80%. Given Origin Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Origin Bancorp is more favorable than Colony Bankcorp.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

54.7% of Origin Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 50.4% of Colony Bankcorp shares are held by institutional investors. 6.4% of Origin Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.6% of Colony Bankcorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Origin Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Colony Bankcorp pays an annual dividend of $0.46 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Origin Bancorp pays out 24.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Colony Bankcorp pays out 32.2% 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. Colony Bankcorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Risk and Volatility

Origin Bancorp has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Colony Bankcorp has a beta of 0.62, meaning that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Origin Bancorp and Colony Bankcorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Origin Bancorp	12.34%	6.91%	0.77%
Colony Bankcorp	13.51%	9.64%	0.85%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Origin Bancorp and Colony Bankcorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Origin Bancorp	$358.20 million	3.31	$76.49 million	$2.44	15.61
Colony Bankcorp	$117.31 million	2.60	$23.87 million	$1.43	12.23

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

Summary

Origin Bancorp beats Colony Bankcorp on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Origin Bancorp

Origin Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Origin Bank that provides banking and financial services to small and medium-sized businesses, municipalities, and retail clients in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. It offers noninterest and interest-bearing checking accounts, savings deposits, money market accounts, and time deposits; and offers commercial real estate, construction and land development, consumer, residential real estate, commercial and industrial, mortgage warehouse, and residential mortgage loans. The company also offers personal and commercial property, and casualty insurance products; and Internet banking and voice response information, mobile applications, cash management, overdraft protection, direct deposit, safe deposit boxes, U.S. savings bonds, and automatic account transfer services; and mobile and online banking, treasury management, mortgage origination and servicing facilities, peer-to-peer electronic pay solutions, and personal financial management solutions. The company was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Ruston, Louisiana.

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.