Financial Review: Landmark Bancorp (NASDAQ:LARK) versus Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC)

Landmark Bancorp (NASDAQ:LARK) and Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Landmark Bancorp and Flushing Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Landmark Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00
Flushing Financial	0	2	1	0	2.33

Flushing Financial has a consensus target price of $16.17, indicating a potential upside of 30.06%. Given Flushing Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Flushing Financial is more favorable than Landmark Bancorp.

Dividends

Landmark Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Flushing Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.1%. Landmark Bancorp pays out 32.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Flushing Financial pays out -62.0% 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. Landmark Bancorp has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years. Flushing Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Landmark Bancorp and Flushing Financial”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Landmark Bancorp	$62.80 million	2.47	$13.00 million	$2.59	10.37
Flushing Financial	$484.72 million	0.87	-$31.33 million	($1.42)	-8.75

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

Volatility and Risk

Landmark Bancorp has a beta of 0.22, indicating that its stock price is 78% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Flushing Financial has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

25.7% of Landmark Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.1% of Flushing Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 12.8% of Landmark Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.7% of Flushing Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Landmark Bancorp	16.37%	11.52%	1.00%
Flushing Financial	-9.07%	3.67%	0.28%

Summary

Landmark Bancorp beats Flushing Financial on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Flushing Financial

Flushing Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Flushing Bank that provides banking products and services primarily to consumers, businesses, and governmental units. It offers various deposit products, including checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, non-interest bearing demand accounts, NOW accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company also provides mortgage loans secured by multi-family residential, commercial real estate, one-to-four family mixed-use property, one-to-four family residential property, and commercial business loans; construction loans; small business administration loans and other small business loans; mortgage loan surrogates, such as mortgage-backed securities; and consumer loans, including overdraft lines of credit, as well as the United States government securities, corporate fixed-income securities, and other marketable securities. It operates full-service banking offices in Queens, Nassau, Suffolk, Kings, and New York counties, New York; and an internet branch under the iGObanking and BankPurely brands. Flushing Financial Corporation was founded in 1929 and is based in Uniondale, New York.