Contrasting Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:UNB) and Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC)

Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:UNB) and Great Southern Bancorp (NASDAQ:GSBC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Union Bankshares and Great Southern Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Union Bankshares	0	0	0	0	N/A
Great Southern Bancorp	0	2	0	0	2.00

Great Southern Bancorp has a consensus target price of $52.00, indicating a potential downside of 10.96%. Given Great Southern Bancorp’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Great Southern Bancorp is more favorable than Union Bankshares.

Volatility & Risk

Union Bankshares has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Great Southern Bancorp has a beta of 0.62, indicating that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Union Bankshares and Great Southern Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Union Bankshares	$46.15 million	2.69	$11.26 million	$2.37	11.60
Great Southern Bancorp	$214.95 million	3.17	$67.80 million	$5.09	11.47

Great Southern Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Union Bankshares. Great Southern Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Union Bankshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

14.8% of Union Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.7% of Great Southern Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Union Bankshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 27.6% of Great Southern Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Union Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. Great Southern Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Union Bankshares pays out 60.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Great Southern Bancorp pays out 31.4% 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. Union Bankshares has increased its dividend for 11 consecutive years. Union Bankshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Union Bankshares and Great Southern Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Union Bankshares	13.63%	16.36%	0.70%
Great Southern Bancorp	17.42%	10.62%	1.02%

Summary

Great Southern Bancorp beats Union Bankshares on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Union Bankshares

Union Bankshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Union Bank that provides retail, commercial, and municipal banking products and services in northern Vermont and New Hampshire. It offers retail depository services, such as personal checking, savings, money market, IRA/SEP/KEOGH, and health savings accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also provides commercial real estate loans; commercial loans for plant and equipment, working capital, real estate renovation, and other business purposes to business owners and investors; small business administration guaranteed loans; residential construction and mortgage loans; municipal financing, including loans and excess deposits secured by FHLBB letters of credit; and home improvement loans and overdraft checking privileges against preauthorized lines of credit. In addition, it offers online cash management services, including account reconciliation, credit card depository, automated clearing house origination, wire transfers, positive pay and night depository services; merchant credit card services for the deposit and immediate credit of sales drafts; remote deposit capture services; and online mortgage application and consumer deposit account opening services. Further, the company provides business checking accounts; standby letters of credit, bank checks or money orders, and safe deposit boxes; ATM cards and services; debit cards; telephone, internet, and mobile banking services, including bill pay; and wealth management, fiduciary, and trust services. It offers retail banking services to individuals; and commercial banking services to small and medium sized business corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, and sole proprietorships, as well as nonprofit organizations, local municipalities, and school districts. Union Bankshares, Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Morrisville, Vermont.

About Great Southern Bancorp

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Great Southern Bank that provides a range of financial services in the United States. Its deposit products include regular savings accounts, checking accounts, money market accounts, fixed interest rate certificates with varying maturities, certificates of deposit, brokered certificates, and individual retirement accounts. The company's loan portfolio comprises residential and commercial real estate loans, commercial business loans, construction loans, home improvement loans, and unsecured consumer loans, as well as secured consumer loans, such as automobile loans, boat loans, home equity loans, and loans secured by savings deposits. It also provides insurance and merchant banking services. The company was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Springfield, Missouri.