Financial Review: Glacier Bancorp (NYSE:GBCI) and Sound Financial Bancorp (NASDAQ:SFBC)

Glacier Bancorp (NYSE:GBCI) and Sound Financial Bancorp (NASDAQ:SFBC) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Dividends

Glacier Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Sound Financial Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Glacier Bancorp pays out 68.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sound Financial Bancorp pays out 31.3% 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. Sound Financial Bancorp has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Glacier Bancorp and Sound Financial Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Glacier Bancorp	$1.27 billion	4.24	$190.14 million	$1.92	23.63
Sound Financial Bancorp	$62.03 million	1.93	$4.64 million	$2.43	19.16

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

Volatility & Risk

Glacier Bancorp has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sound Financial Bancorp has a beta of 0.16, meaning that its stock price is 84% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Glacier Bancorp	16.72%	6.63%	0.78%
Sound Financial Bancorp	10.02%	6.05%	0.60%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

80.2% of Glacier Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.9% of Sound Financial Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Glacier Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 12.6% of Sound Financial Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Glacier Bancorp and Sound Financial Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Glacier Bancorp	0	0	0	1	4.00
Sound Financial Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00

Summary

Glacier Bancorp beats Sound Financial Bancorp on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Glacier Bancorp

Glacier Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Glacier Bank that provides commercial banking services to individuals, small to medium-sized businesses, community organizations, and public entities in the United States. It offers non-interest bearing deposit and interest bearing deposit accounts, such as negotiable order of withdrawal and demand deposit accounts, savings accounts, money market deposit accounts, fixed rate certificates of deposit, negotiated-rate jumbo certificates, and individual retirement accounts. The company also provides construction and permanent loans on residential real estate; consumer land or lot acquisition loans; unimproved land and land development loans; and residential builder guidance lines comprising pre-sold and spec-home construction, and lot acquisition loans. In addition, it offers commercial real estate loans to purchase, construct, and finance commercial real estate properties; consumer loans secured by real estate, automobiles, or other assets; paycheck protection program loans; home equity loans consisting of junior lien mortgages, and first and junior lien lines of credit secured by owner-occupied 1-4 family residences; and agriculture loans. Further, the company provides mortgage origination and loan servicing services. It has 224 locations, including 188 branches and 36 loan or administration offices in 75 counties within 8 states comprising Montana, Idaho, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada. The company was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Kalispell, Montana.

About Sound Financial Bancorp

Sound Financial Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Sound Community Bank that provides banking and other financial services for consumers and businesses. It accepts various deposits products comprising savings, money market deposit, NOW, and demand accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also offers loans secured by first and second mortgages on one-to four-family residences; home equity loans, including fixed-rate loans and variable-rate lines of credit; commercial and multifamily real estate loans; construction loans secured by single-family residences, and commercial and multifamily real estate; land loans; commercial business loans to finance commercial vehicles and equipment, as well as loans secured by accounts receivable and/or inventory; and secured and unsecured consumer loans, such as new and used manufactured homes, floating homes, automobiles, boats, and recreational vehicle loans, and loans secured by deposit accounts. The company was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.