Contrasting Plumas Bancorp (NASDAQ:PLBC) and TriCo Bancshares (NASDAQ:TCBK)

Plumas Bancorp (NASDAQ:PLBC) and TriCo Bancshares (NASDAQ:TCBK) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Plumas Bancorp and TriCo Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Plumas Bancorp	0	0	3	0	3.00
TriCo Bancshares	0	2	3	1	2.83

Plumas Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $58.00, indicating a potential upside of 29.26%. TriCo Bancshares has a consensus target price of $47.60, indicating a potential upside of 3.48%. Given Plumas Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Plumas Bancorp is more favorable than TriCo Bancshares.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

41.7% of Plumas Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 59.1% of TriCo Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 7.7% of Plumas Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.8% of TriCo Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Plumas Bancorp and TriCo Bancshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Plumas Bancorp	$93.11 million	3.35	$28.62 million	$4.85	9.25
TriCo Bancshares	$531.04 million	2.82	$114.87 million	$3.40	13.53

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

Profitability

This table compares Plumas Bancorp and TriCo Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Plumas Bancorp	30.81%	15.71%	1.78%
TriCo Bancshares	21.11%	8.99%	1.14%

Dividends

Plumas Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. TriCo Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Plumas Bancorp pays out 24.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. TriCo Bancshares pays out 38.8% 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. Plumas Bancorp has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years and TriCo Bancshares has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years. TriCo Bancshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Risk and Volatility

Plumas Bancorp has a beta of 0.68, meaning that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TriCo Bancshares has a beta of 0.68, meaning that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Plumas Bancorp beats TriCo Bancshares on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Plumas Bancorp

Plumas Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for the Plumas Bank that provides various banking products and services for small and middle market businesses, and individuals in Northeastern California and Northwestern Nevada. The company accepts various deposits, such as checking, money market checking, business sweep, public funds sweep, savings, time deposit, and retirement accounts. Its loan portfolio comprises of term real estate, commercial, and industrial term loans; government-guaranteed and agricultural loans, as well as credit lines; consumer, automobile, and home equity loans; land development and construction loans; and small business administration loans. In addition, the company provides remote deposit, telephone and mobile banking, internet banking with bill-pay options, cashier's check, bank-by-mail, automated teller machine, night depository, safe deposit box, direct deposit, electronic funds transfer, and other customary banking services. Plumas Bancorp was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Reno, Nevada.

About TriCo Bancshares

TriCo Bancshares operates as a bank holding company for Tri Counties Bank that provides commercial banking services to individual and corporate customers. The company accepts demand, savings, and time deposits. It also provides small business loans; real estate mortgage loans, such as residential and commercial loans; consumer loans; mortgage, auto, other vehicle, and personal loans; commercial loans, including agricultural loans; and real estate construction loans. In addition, the company offers treasury management services; credit and debit cards; and other customary banking services, including safe deposit boxes; and independent financial and broker-dealer services. Further, it provides checking, saving, and money market accounts, as well as individual retirement accounts; equipment financing; certificate of deposit account registry service; certificated of deposit; and IntraFi cash service. TriCo Bancshares was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Chico, California.