Financial Review: John Marshall Bancorp (NASDAQ:JMSB) and SB Financial Group (NASDAQ:SBFG)

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

39.1% of John Marshall Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.7% of SB Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.7% of John Marshall Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.1% of SB Financial Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

John Marshall Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. SB Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. John Marshall Bancorp pays out 113.6% 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 32.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SB Financial Group has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years. SB Financial Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for John Marshall Bancorp and SB Financial Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
John Marshall Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A
SB Financial Group	0	0	0	0	N/A

Risk & Volatility

John Marshall Bancorp has a beta of 0.6, meaning that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SB Financial Group has a beta of 0.69, meaning that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares John Marshall Bancorp and SB Financial Group’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
John Marshall Bancorp	$33.07 million	7.07	$5.16 million	$0.22	74.77
SB Financial Group	$75.87 million	1.26	$12.10 million	$1.75	8.10

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
John Marshall Bancorp	3.42%	7.82%	0.77%
SB Financial Group	15.47%	10.00%	0.89%

Summary

SB Financial Group beats John Marshall Bancorp on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About John Marshall Bancorp

John Marshall Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for John Marshall Bank that provides banking products and financial services. The company accepts checking, demand, NOW, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It offers residential and commercial construction and development loans, commercial term, mortgage, commercial real estate, industrial loans, and other commercial lines of credit; debit and credit cards; and treasury and cash management, investment, business and personal insurance, remote deposit capture, deposit sweep and online and mobile banking services. The company serves small to medium-sized businesses, their owners and employees, professional corporations, non-profits, and individuals. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.

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.