Critical Survey: Norwood Financial (NASDAQ:NWFL) & SB Financial Group (NASDAQ:SBFG)

Norwood Financial (NASDAQ:NWFL) and SB Financial Group (NASDAQ:SBFG) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Norwood Financial and SB Financial Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Norwood Financial	0	3	0	0	2.00
SB Financial Group	0	1	1	0	2.50

Norwood Financial presently has a consensus target price of $26.50, suggesting a potential downside of 5.46%. Given Norwood Financial’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Norwood Financial is more favorable than SB Financial Group.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Norwood Financial and SB Financial Group”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Norwood Financial	$101.43 million	2.56	-$160,000.00	$0.65	43.12
SB Financial Group	$81.37 million	1.63	$11.47 million	$2.12	9.92

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

28.1% of Norwood Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.7% of SB Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.1% of Norwood Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.7% of SB Financial Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Norwood Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. SB Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $0.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Norwood Financial pays out 190.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. SB Financial Group pays out 29.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Norwood Financial has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years and SB Financial Group has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years.

Volatility and Risk

Norwood Financial has a beta of 0.61, suggesting that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SB Financial Group has a beta of 0.23, suggesting that its stock price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Norwood Financial and SB Financial Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Norwood Financial	6.82%	10.68%	1.01%
SB Financial Group	15.31%	10.68%	0.96%

About Norwood Financial

Norwood Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Wayne Bank that provides various banking products and services. The company accepts a range of deposit products, including interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing transaction accounts, and statement savings and money market accounts, as well as certificate of deposits. It also provides commercial loans comprising lines of credit, revolving credit, term loans, mortgages, secured lending products, and letter of credit facilities; municipal finance lending; construction loans for commercial construction projects and single-family residences; land loans; construction financing; consumer loans; mortgage lending to finance principal residences and second home dwellings; and indirect dealer financing of new and used automobiles, boats, and recreational vehicles. In addition, the company offers investment securities services; personal and business credit services; trust and investment products; and cash management, direct deposit, remote deposit capture, mobile deposit capture, automated clearing house activity, real estate settlement, and Internet and mobile banking services. Further, it engages in the annuity and mutual fund sale, and discount brokerage activities, as well as insurance agency business. The company serves consumers, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and municipalities. It operates branches in Northeastern Pennsylvania; and in Delaware, Sullivan, Ontario, Otsego, and Yates Counties, New York, as well as automated teller machines. Norwood Financial Corp. was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Honesdale, Pennsylvania.

About SB Financial Group

SB Financial Group, Inc. operates as the financial holding company for the State Bank and Trust Company that provides a range of commercial banking and wealth management services to individual and corporate customers primarily in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. It offers checking, savings, money market accounts, as well as time certificates of deposit; and commercial, consumer, agricultural, and residential mortgage loans. The company also provides automatic teller machine, personal and corporate trust, commercial leasing, bank credit card, safe deposit box rental, internet banking, private client group, and other personalized banking products and services; and various trust and financial services comprising asset management services for individuals and corporate employee benefit plans, as well as brokerage services. In addition, it sells insurance products to retail and commercial customers. The company was formerly known as Rurban Financial Corp. and changed its name to SB Financial Group, Inc. in April 2013. SB Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1902 and is based in Defiance, Ohio.