Analyzing ChoiceOne Financial Services (NASDAQ:COFS) & Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina (NASDAQ:PEBK)

ChoiceOne Financial Services (NASDAQ:COFS) and Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina (NASDAQ:PEBK) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

19.9% of ChoiceOne Financial Services shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.8% of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina shares are held by institutional investors. 7.9% of ChoiceOne Financial Services shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 16.9% of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

ChoiceOne Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. ChoiceOne Financial Services pays out 35.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina pays out 25.8% 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. ChoiceOne Financial Services has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. ChoiceOne Financial Services is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares ChoiceOne Financial Services and Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ChoiceOne Financial Services	$88.70 million	3.51	$21.26 million	$3.17	10.96
Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina	$70.22 million	2.38	$15.55 million	$2.95	10.40

ChoiceOne Financial Services has higher revenue and earnings than Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ChoiceOne Financial Services, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for ChoiceOne Financial Services and Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ChoiceOne Financial Services	0	0	1	0	3.00
Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina	0	0	0	0	0.00

ChoiceOne Financial Services presently has a consensus target price of $37.00, indicating a potential upside of 6.47%. Given ChoiceOne Financial Services’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe ChoiceOne Financial Services is more favorable than Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina.

Profitability

This table compares ChoiceOne Financial Services and Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ChoiceOne Financial Services	18.41%	11.79%	0.96%
Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina	15.27%	12.92%	0.98%

Volatility & Risk

ChoiceOne Financial Services has a beta of 0.72, suggesting that its stock price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina has a beta of 0.62, suggesting that its stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

ChoiceOne Financial Services beats Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ChoiceOne Financial Services

ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for ChoiceOne Bank that provides banking services to corporations, partnerships, and individuals in Michigan. The company offers various deposit products, including time, savings, and demand deposits, safe deposit, and automated transaction machine services. It also provides commercial lending products, such as business, industry, agricultural, construction, inventory, and real estate loans; and consumer loans comprising direct and indirect loans to consumers and purchasers of residential and real properties. In addition, the company offers alternative investment products, which include annuities and mutual funds; and sells insurance policies, such as life and health for commercial and consumer clients. Further, it provides trust and wealth management services. ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. was founded in 1898 and is headquartered in Sparta, Michigan.

About Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Peoples Bank that provides various banking products and services for individuals and small-to medium-sized businesses. It offers checking, savings, money market, and retirement accounts; certificates of deposits; and credit and debit cards. The company also originates commercial real estate loans, commercial loans, construction and land development loans, and residential mortgage loans; and individual taxpayer identification number mortgage loans, as well as agricultural loans. In addition, it provides investment counseling and non-deposit investment products, such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, tax deferred annuities, and related brokerage services; and real estate appraisal and brokerage services. Further, the company operates as a clearing-house for the provision of appraisal services for community banks; and acquires, manages, and disposes real property, other collateral, and other assets obtained in the ordinary course of collecting debts. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, Inc. was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Newton, North Carolina.