Critical Comparison: Barclays (NYSE:BCS) and Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina (NASDAQ:PEBK)

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina (NASDAQ:PEBK) and Barclays (NYSE:BCS) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina and Barclays’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina	18.93%	13.84%	1.27%
Barclays	22.74%	9.01%	0.43%

Volatility and Risk

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina has a beta of 0.3, suggesting that its share price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Barclays has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

43.8% of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.4% of Barclays shares are held by institutional investors. 14.5% of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Barclays shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina and Barclays, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina	0	0	0	1	4.00
Barclays	0	6	4	0	2.40

Dividends

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Barclays pays an annual dividend of $0.61 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina pays out 20.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Barclays pays out 21.9% 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. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina and Barclays”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina	$114.60 million	2.07	$19.83 million	$4.02	10.82
Barclays	$38.42 billion	1.89	$9.46 billion	$2.78	7.82

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

Summary

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina beats Barclays on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Barclays

Barclays PLC provides various financial services in the United Kingdom, Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The company operates through Barclays UK and Barclays International division segments. It offers financial services, such as retail banking, credit cards, wholesale banking, investment banking, wealth management, and investment management services. In addition, the company engages in securities dealing activities. The company was formerly known as Barclays Bank Limited and changed its name to Barclays PLC in January 1985. Barclays PLC was founded in 1690 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.