Financial Comparison: Landmark Bancorp (NASDAQ:LARK) and First Hawaiian (NASDAQ:FHB)

First Hawaiian (NASDAQ:FHB) and Landmark Bancorp (NASDAQ:LARK) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for First Hawaiian and Landmark Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Hawaiian	2	7	2	0	2.00
Landmark Bancorp	0	1	1	0	2.50

First Hawaiian presently has a consensus target price of $29.38, indicating a potential upside of 16.29%. Given First Hawaiian’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe First Hawaiian is more favorable than Landmark Bancorp.

Dividends

First Hawaiian pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Landmark Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. First Hawaiian pays out 45.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Landmark Bancorp pays out 25.5% 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. Landmark Bancorp has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

97.6% of First Hawaiian shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 25.7% of Landmark Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of First Hawaiian shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.8% of Landmark Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares First Hawaiian and Landmark Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Hawaiian	$870.02 million	3.53	$276.27 million	$2.30	10.98
Landmark Bancorp	$95.97 million	1.99	$18.77 million	$3.29	9.53

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

Risk and Volatility

First Hawaiian has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Landmark Bancorp has a beta of 0.4, indicating that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares First Hawaiian and Landmark Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Hawaiian	24.41%	10.27%	1.19%
Landmark Bancorp	20.56%	12.49%	1.25%

Summary

First Hawaiian beats Landmark Bancorp on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Hawaiian

First Hawaiian, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for First Hawaiian Bank that provides a range of banking products and services to consumer and commercial customers in the United States. It operates in three segments: Retail Banking, Commercial Banking, and Treasury and Other. The company offers various deposit products, including checking, savings, and time deposit accounts, and other deposit accounts. It also provides residential and commercial mortgage loans, home equity lines of credit and loans, automobile loans and leases, secured and unsecured lines of credit, installment loans, small business loans and leases, and construction lending, as well as commercial lease and auto dealer financing. In addition, the company offers wealth management, personal installment, individual investment and financial planning, insurance protection, trust and estate, private banking, investment management, retirement planning, and merchant processing services, as well as consumer and commercial credit cards. The company was formerly known as BancWest Corporation and changed its name to First Hawaiian, Inc. in April 2016. First Hawaiian, Inc. was founded in 1858 and is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii.

About Landmark Bancorp

Landmark Bancorp, Inc. operates as the financial holding company for Landmark National Bank that provides various financial and banking services to its local communities. It offers non-interest bearing demand, money market, checking, and savings accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also provides one-to-four family residential real estate, construction and land, commercial real estate, commercial, paycheck protection program, municipal, and agriculture loans; and consumer and other loans, such as automobile, boat, and home improvement and home equity loans, as well as insurance, and mobile and online banking services. In addition, the company invests in certain investment and mortgage-related securities. It operates in the eastern, central, southeast, and southwest Kansas. The company was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in Manhattan, Kansas.