Contrasting Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) & Princeton Bancorp (NASDAQ:BPRN)

Princeton Bancorp (NASDAQ:BPRN) and Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Princeton Bancorp and Columbia Banking System, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Princeton Bancorp	0	2	1	1	2.75
Columbia Banking System	0	8	5	0	2.38

Princeton Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $37.50, suggesting a potential downside of 14.54%. Columbia Banking System has a consensus price target of $33.83, suggesting a potential upside of 12.22%. Given Columbia Banking System’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Columbia Banking System is more favorable than Princeton Bancorp.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Princeton Bancorp and Columbia Banking System”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Princeton Bancorp	$139.02 million	2.15	$18.61 million	$3.80	11.55
Columbia Banking System	$3.21 billion	2.65	$550.00 million	$2.51	12.01

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

43.4% of Princeton Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.5% of Columbia Banking System shares are owned by institutional investors. 23.1% of Princeton Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Columbia Banking System shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Princeton Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Columbia Banking System pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. Princeton Bancorp pays out 36.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Columbia Banking System pays out 59.0% 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. Columbia Banking System has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Columbia Banking System is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Princeton Bancorp and Columbia Banking System’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Princeton Bancorp	18.99%	9.48%	1.15%
Columbia Banking System	19.96%	11.33%	1.31%

Volatility & Risk

Princeton Bancorp has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Columbia Banking System has a beta of 0.62, indicating that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Columbia Banking System beats Princeton Bancorp on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Princeton Bancorp

Princeton Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for The Bank of Princeton that provides various banking products and services. It accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, attorney trust, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also offers traditional retail banking services, one-to-four-family residential mortgage loans, multi-family and commercial mortgage loans, construction loans, and commercial business loans, as well as consumer loans, including home equity loans and lines of credit. In addition, it provides debit and credit cards, and money orders, direct deposit, automated teller machines, cashier's checks, safe deposit boxes, online banking, wire transfers, night depository, remote deposit capture, bank-by-mail, online, and automated telephone banking services, as well as payroll-related services and merchant credit card processing services. Further, the company offers full on-line statements, on-line bill payment, account inquiries, mobile banking, transaction histories and details, and account-to-account transfer services. Princeton Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey.

About Columbia Banking System

Columbia Banking System, Inc. operates as the holding company of Umpqua Bank that provides banking, private banking, mortgage, and other financial services in the United States. The company offers deposit products, including business, non-interest bearing checking, interest-bearing checking and savings, money market, and certificate of deposit accounts; and insured cash sweep and other investment sweep solutions. It also provides commercial lending products, such as commercial lines of credit and term loans, accounts receivable and inventory financing, international trade finance, commercial property loans, multifamily loans, equipment loans, commercial equipment leases, real estate construction loans and permanent financing, and small business administration program financing, as well as capital markets. In addition, the company offers wealth management comprising financial planning, investment, trust, and insurance; treasury management, which includes digital and mobile banking solutions, ACH, wires, positive pay, remote deposit capture, integrated payments, integrated receivables, lockbox, cash vault, real-time payments, commercial card, and foreign exchange and international banking related products, as well as merchant services; and brokerage services, residential real estate loans and consumer loans. It serves its products to corporate, institutional, small business, and individual customers. The company was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Tacoma, Washington.