Chemung Financial (NASDAQ:CHMG – Get Rating) and Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR – Get Rating) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, risk and dividends.
Dividends
Chemung Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Sierra Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. Chemung Financial pays out 20.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sierra Bancorp pays out 41.3% 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. Sierra Bancorp has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years. Sierra Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Risk and Volatility
Chemung Financial has a beta of 0.11, meaning that its share price is 89% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sierra Bancorp has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Chemung Financial and Sierra Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Chemung Financial | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
| Sierra Bancorp | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
Chemung Financial presently has a consensus target price of $49.00, indicating a potential upside of 19.08%. Sierra Bancorp has a consensus target price of $24.38, indicating a potential upside of 50.74%. Given Sierra Bancorp’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Sierra Bancorp is more favorable than Chemung Financial.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Chemung Financial and Sierra Bancorp’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Chemung Financial | $94.61 million | 2.05 | $28.78 million | $6.13 | 6.71 |
| Sierra Bancorp | $152.59 million | 1.61 | $33.66 million | $2.23 | 7.25 |
Sierra Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Chemung Financial. Chemung Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sierra Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Chemung Financial and Sierra Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Chemung Financial | 27.97% | 16.88% | 1.14% |
| Sierra Bancorp | 22.06% | 11.01% | 0.96% |
Institutional & Insider Ownership
35.8% of Chemung Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.4% of Sierra Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.3% of Chemung Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.6% of Sierra Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
Sierra Bancorp beats Chemung Financial on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Chemung Financial
Chemung Financial Corp. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of banking, financing, fiduciary, and other financial services. It operates through the Core Banking and Wealth Management Services (WMG) segments. The Core Banking segment attracts deposits from the general public to originate consumer, commercial, commercial real estate, and residential mortgage loans, primarily in the local markets of the firm and to invest in securities. The WMG segment provides trust and investment advisory services to clients. The company was founded on January 2, 1985 and is headquartered in Elmira, NY.
About Sierra Bancorp
Sierra Bancorp is a holding company, which engages in the business of holding the stock of the Bank of the Sierra and its subsidiaries. The firm is also involved in the provision of specialized lending services through a dedicated agricultural credit office. Its loan portfolio includes agricultural, commercial, consumer, real estate, construction, and mortgage. The company was founded by James C. Holly in 1978 and is headquartered in Porterville, CA.
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