Head to Head Comparison: German American Bancorp (NASDAQ:GABC) versus Surrey Bancorp (OTCMKTS:SRYB)

German American Bancorp (NASDAQ:GABC) and Surrey Bancorp (OTCMKTS:SRYB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, risk, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for German American Bancorp and Surrey Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
German American Bancorp	0	2	3	0	2.60
Surrey Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00

German American Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $46.40, suggesting a potential upside of 15.05%. Given German American Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe German American Bancorp is more favorable than Surrey Bancorp.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
German American Bancorp	23.69%	12.04%	1.35%
Surrey Bancorp	37.97%	N/A	N/A

Institutional and Insider Ownership

46.9% of German American Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.7% of Surrey Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.2% of German American Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 33.7% of Surrey Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
German American Bancorp	$253.25 million	4.73	$83.81 million	$2.82	14.30
Surrey Bancorp	$16.20 million	4.23	$5.10 million	$1.52	10.99

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

Dividends

German American Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Surrey Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. German American Bancorp pays out 41.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Surrey Bancorp pays out 31.6% 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. German American Bancorp has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. German American Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Risk and Volatility

German American Bancorp has a beta of 0.64, meaning that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Surrey Bancorp has a beta of 0.65, meaning that its share price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

German American Bancorp beats Surrey Bancorp on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About German American Bancorp

German American Bancorp, Inc. operates as a financial holding company for German American Bank that provides retail and commercial banking services. The company operates through three segments: Core Banking, Wealth Management Services, and Insurance Operations. The Core Banking segment accepts deposits from the general public; and originates consumer, commercial and agricultural, commercial and agricultural real estate, and residential mortgage loans, as well as sells residential mortgage loans in the secondary market. The Wealth Management segment provides trust, investment advisory, brokerage, and retirement planning services. The Insurance Operations segment offers a range of personal and corporate property and casualty insurance products. It also offers checking, saving, and individual retirement accounts; certificates of deposit; wire transfer; credit cards; home equity, mortgages, and small business; treasury management; and online and mobile banking, bill pay, digital wallet, mobile check deposit, credit score and report, money management, and estatements, as well as wealth advisory. German American Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1910 and is based in Jasper, Indiana.

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.