Contrasting Colony Bankcorp (NYSE:CBAN) & United Bankshares (NASDAQ:UBSI)

Colony Bankcorp (NYSE:CBAN) and United Bankshares (NASDAQ:UBSI) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, profitability, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Colony Bankcorp and United Bankshares, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Colony Bankcorp	0	1	3	0	2.75
United Bankshares	0	4	3	0	2.43

Colony Bankcorp presently has a consensus price target of $23.00, indicating a potential upside of 15.29%. United Bankshares has a consensus price target of $46.40, indicating a potential upside of 0.48%. Given Colony Bankcorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Colony Bankcorp is more favorable than United Bankshares.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

50.4% of Colony Bankcorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.8% of United Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.9% of Colony Bankcorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.2% of United Bankshares shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Colony Bankcorp and United Bankshares”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Colony Bankcorp	$190.23 million	2.22	$28.25 million	$1.60	12.47
United Bankshares	$1.82 billion	3.49	$464.60 million	$3.57	12.94

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

Profitability

This table compares Colony Bankcorp and United Bankshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Colony Bankcorp	14.83%	10.23%	1.01%
United Bankshares	27.45%	9.26%	1.51%

Dividends

Colony Bankcorp pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. United Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Colony Bankcorp pays out 30.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. United Bankshares pays out 42.6% 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 and United Bankshares has raised its dividend for 26 consecutive years. United Bankshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility & Risk

Colony Bankcorp has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Bankshares has a beta of 0.71, indicating that its share price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

United Bankshares beats Colony Bankcorp on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

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 various 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. As of January 20, 2022, it operated 39 locations throughout Georgia. The company was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Fitzgerald, Georgia.

About United Bankshares

United Bankshares, Inc., through its subsidiaries, primarily provides commercial and retail banking products and services in the United States. It operates through two segments, Community Banking and Mortgage Banking. The company accepts checking, savings, and time and money market accounts; individual retirement accounts; and demand deposits, statement and special savings, and NOW accounts. Its loan products include commercial loans and leases to small to mid-size industrial and commercial companies; construction and real estate loans, such as commercial and residential mortgages, and loans secured by owner-occupied real estate; personal, student, credit card receivables, personal, commercial, and floor plan loans; and home equity loans. In addition, the company provides credit cards; safe deposit boxes, wire transfers, and other banking products and services; investment and security services; services to correspondent banks, including buying and selling federal funds; automated teller machine services; and internet and telephone banking services. Further, it offers community banking services, such as asset management, real property title insurance, financial planning, mortgage banking, and brokerage services, as well as investment management and retirement planning services. United Bankshares, Inc. was incorporated in 1982 and is headquartered in Charleston, West Virginia.