Contrasting TrustCo Bank Corp NY (NASDAQ:TRST) and Harleysville Savings Financial (OTCMKTS:HARL)

Harleysville Savings Financial (OTCMKTS:HARL) and TrustCo Bank Corp NY (NASDAQ:TRST) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Harleysville Savings Financial and TrustCo Bank Corp NY’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Harleysville Savings Financial	21.91%	10.81%	1.09%
TrustCo Bank Corp NY	20.74%	8.27%	0.90%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Harleysville Savings Financial and TrustCo Bank Corp NY”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Harleysville Savings Financial	$43.61 million	2.07	$9.53 million	$2.61	9.62
TrustCo Bank Corp NY	$263.15 million	2.98	$48.83 million	$2.99	14.24

TrustCo Bank Corp NY has higher revenue and earnings than Harleysville Savings Financial. Harleysville Savings Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than TrustCo Bank Corp NY, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Harleysville Savings Financial and TrustCo Bank Corp NY, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Harleysville Savings Financial	0	0	0	0	0.00
TrustCo Bank Corp NY	0	0	1	0	3.00

Insider & Institutional Ownership

1.2% of Harleysville Savings Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.6% of TrustCo Bank Corp NY shares are owned by institutional investors. 14.5% of Harleysville Savings Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of TrustCo Bank Corp NY shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Harleysville Savings Financial has a beta of 0.23, suggesting that its share price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TrustCo Bank Corp NY has a beta of 0.65, suggesting that its share price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Harleysville Savings Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. TrustCo Bank Corp NY pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Harleysville Savings Financial pays out 50.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. TrustCo Bank Corp NY pays out 50.8% 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. Harleysville Savings Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

TrustCo Bank Corp NY beats Harleysville Savings Financial on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Harleysville Savings Financial

Harleysville Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Harleysville Bank that provides various banking products and services in Pennsylvania. The company offers various deposit products, including savings, money market, and checking accounts, as well as certificates of deposits. It also provides consumer loans, including residential mortgages, savings account loans, and home equity line of credit, construction, and non-real estate consumer loans; and commercial loans, such as commercial mortgages, line of credit, and commercial business loans. In addition, the company offers online banking and bill payment, mobile and telephone banking, remote deposit, debit cards, automated clearing house processing, sweep accounts, zero balance accounts, employee services, and other cash management services. Further, it provides investment services, such as financial consultation, cash and wealth management, education planning, investment strategy, insurance, retirement and estate planning, financial and goal planning, and asset allocation services, as well as offers investment products, such as fixed and variable annuities, mutual funds, life insurances, stocks and bonds, tax-advantaged investments, long-term care insurances, disability insurances, retirement plans/individual retirement accounts, wrap accounts, and unit investment trusts. Its primary market area includes Montgomery County and Bucks County. The company was formerly known as Harleysville Savings Financial Corporation and changed its name to Harleysville Financial Corporation in May 2017. Harleysville Financial Corporation was founded in 1915 and is headquartered in Harleysville, Pennsylvania.

About TrustCo Bank Corp NY

TrustCo Bank Corp NY operates as the holding company for Trustco Bank, a federal savings bank that provides personal and business banking services to individuals and businesses. The company accepts deposits; and offers loans and investments. It also operates as a real estate investment trust that acquires, holds, and manages real estate mortgage assets, including residential mortgage loans and mortgage-backed securities. In addition, the company serves as the executor of estates and trustee of personal trusts; provides asset and wealth management, estate planning and related advice, and custodial services; and acts as trustee for various types of employee benefit plans, and corporate pension and profit-sharing trusts. It operates through banking offices in Albany, Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Montgomery, Orange, Putnam, Rensselaer, Rockland, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Ulster, Warren, Washington, and Westchester counties of New York; Brevard, Charlotte, Flagler, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lake, Manatee, Martin, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Polk, Sarasota, Seminole, and Volusia counties in Florida; Bennington County in Vermont; Berkshire County in Massachusetts; and Bergen County in New Jersey, as well as automatic teller machines. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Glenville, New York.