Comparing Glacier Bancorp (NYSE:GBCI) & Westamerica Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WABC)

Glacier Bancorp (NYSE:GBCI) and Westamerica Bancorporation (NASDAQ:WABC) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Glacier Bancorp and Westamerica Bancorporation, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Glacier Bancorp	0	1	2	1	3.00
Westamerica Bancorporation	0	3	0	0	2.00

Glacier Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $56.50, indicating a potential upside of 11.44%. Westamerica Bancorporation has a consensus target price of $52.50, indicating a potential upside of 3.80%. Given Glacier Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Glacier Bancorp is more favorable than Westamerica Bancorporation.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.2% of Glacier Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.9% of Westamerica Bancorporation shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Glacier Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.3% of Westamerica Bancorporation shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Glacier Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Westamerica Bancorporation pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Glacier Bancorp pays out 66.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Westamerica Bancorporation pays out 40.7% 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. Westamerica Bancorporation has raised its dividend for 34 consecutive years. Westamerica Bancorporation is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Glacier Bancorp and Westamerica Bancorporation’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Glacier Bancorp	16.63%	6.68%	0.83%
Westamerica Bancorporation	42.75%	12.52%	1.96%

Risk and Volatility

Glacier Bancorp has a beta of 0.75, meaning that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Westamerica Bancorporation has a beta of 0.62, meaning that its stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Glacier Bancorp and Westamerica Bancorporation”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Glacier Bancorp	$1.44 billion	4.58	$239.03 million	$1.99	25.48
Westamerica Bancorporation	$259.14 million	4.87	$116.17 million	$4.52	11.19

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

Summary

Westamerica Bancorporation beats Glacier Bancorp 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. 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 Westamerica Bancorporation

Westamerica Bancorporation operates as a bank holding company for the Westamerica Bank that provides various banking products and services to individual and commercial customers. The company accepts various deposit products, including retail savings and checking accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. Its loan portfolio includes commercial, commercial and residential real estate, real estate construction, and consumer installment loans, as well as indirect automobile loans. The company was formerly known as Independent Bankshares Corporation and changed its name to Westamerica Bancorporation in 1983. The company was founded in 1884 and is headquartered in San Rafael, California.