Reviewing USCB Financial (NASDAQ:USCB) and Colony Bankcorp (NASDAQ:CBAN)

USCB Financial (NASDAQ:USCB) and Colony Bankcorp (NASDAQ:CBAN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk, earnings and valuation.

Risk and Volatility

USCB Financial has a beta of 0.64, meaning that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Colony Bankcorp has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for USCB Financial and Colony Bankcorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
USCB Financial	0	1	2	1	3.00
Colony Bankcorp	0	0	0	0	0.00

USCB Financial currently has a consensus target price of $17.50, indicating a potential downside of 6.94%. Given USCB Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe USCB Financial is more favorable than Colony Bankcorp.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

61.3% of USCB Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 50.4% of Colony Bankcorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 48.5% of USCB Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.6% of Colony Bankcorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares USCB Financial and Colony Bankcorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
USCB Financial	17.14%	12.14%	0.99%
Colony Bankcorp	13.51%	9.64%	0.85%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares USCB Financial and Colony Bankcorp”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
USCB Financial	$82.68 million	4.56	$24.67 million	$1.23	15.29
Colony Bankcorp	$115.45 million	2.45	$23.87 million	$1.35	11.98

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

Dividends

USCB Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Colony Bankcorp pays an annual dividend of $0.46 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. USCB Financial pays out 32.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Colony Bankcorp pays out 34.1% 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.

Summary

USCB Financial beats Colony Bankcorp on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About USCB Financial

USCB Financial Holdings, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for U.S. Century Bank that engages in the provision of various personal and business banking products and services in the United States. It accepts various deposit products, including commercial and consumer checking, money market deposit, savings, and time deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also offers loan products, such as small business administration loans, yacht financing, residential and commercial real estate loans; commercial and industrial loans; foreign bank loans; and secured and unsecured consumer loans comprising personal loans, overdrafts, and deposit account collateralized loans. The company also offers lockbox, treasury, commercial payments, cash management, and online banking services, as well as provides title insurance policies for real estate transactions. USCB Financial Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.

About Colony Bankcorp

Colony Bankcorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Colony Bank that provides various banking products and services to commercial and consumer customers. The company offers deposit products, including demand, savings, and time deposits. It also provides loans to small and medium-sized businesses; residential and commercial construction, and land development loans; commercial real estate loans; commercial loans; agri-business and production loans; residential mortgage loans; home equity loans; and consumer loans. In addition, the company offers internet banking services, electronic bill payment services, safe deposit box rentals, telephone banking, credit and debit card services, and remote depository products, as well as access to a network of ATMs. The company was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Fitzgerald, Georgia.