Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina (NASDAQ:PEBK) & Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) Financial Contrast

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) and Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina (NASDAQ:PEBK) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, valuation, risk and analyst recommendations.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

75.3% of Dime Community Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.8% of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina shares are held by institutional investors. 7.1% of Dime Community Bancshares shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 16.9% of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Dime Community Bancshares and Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Dime Community Bancshares	15.15%	9.12%	0.83%
Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina	17.30%	13.47%	1.16%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Dime Community Bancshares and Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Dime Community Bancshares	0	2	3	1	2.83
Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina	0	0	1	0	3.00

Dime Community Bancshares currently has a consensus target price of $38.00, indicating a potential upside of 14.46%. Given Dime Community Bancshares’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Dime Community Bancshares is more favorable than Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina.

Volatility & Risk

Dime Community Bancshares has a beta of 1.09, suggesting that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina has a beta of 0.31, suggesting that its stock price is 69% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Dime Community Bancshares and Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Dime Community Bancshares	$730.38 million	2.00	$110.68 million	$2.36	14.07
Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina	$74.41 million	2.83	$19.83 million	$3.62	10.66

Dime Community Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Dime Community Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Dime Community Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Dime Community Bancshares pays out 42.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina pays out 23.2% 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. Dime Community Bancshares has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Dime Community Bancshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Dime Community Bancshares beats Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Dime Community Bancshares

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. operates as the holding company for Dime Community Bank that engages in the provision of various commercial banking and financial services. The company accepts time, savings, and demand deposits from the businesses, consumers, and local municipalities. It also offers commercial real estate loans; multi-family mortgage loans; residential mortgage loans; letters of credit; secured and unsecured commercial and consumer loans; lines of credit; home equity loans; and construction and land loans. In addition, the company invests in Federal Home Loan Bank, Federal National Mortgage Association, Government National Mortgage Association, and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation mortgage-backed securities, collateralized mortgage obligations, and other asset backed securities; U.S. Treasury securities; New York state and local municipal obligations; U.S. government-sponsored enterprise securities; and corporate bonds. Further, it offers certificate of deposit account registry services and insured cash sweep programs; federal deposit insurance corporation insurance; merchant credit and debit card processing, automated teller machines, cash management services, lockbox processing, online banking services, remote deposit capture, safe deposit boxes, and individual retirement accounts; investment products and services through a third-party broker dealer; and title insurance broker services for small and medium sized businesses, and municipal and consumer relationships. The company was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Hauppauge, New York.

About Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Peoples Bank that provides various banking products and services for individuals and small-to medium-sized businesses. It offers checking, savings, money market, and retirement accounts; certificates of deposits; and credit and debit cards. The company also originates commercial real estate loans, commercial loans, construction and land development loans, and residential mortgage loans; and individual taxpayer identification number mortgage loans, as well as agricultural loans. In addition, it provides investment counseling and non-deposit investment products, such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, tax deferred annuities, and related brokerage services; and real estate appraisal and brokerage services. Further, the company operates as a clearing-house for the provision of appraisal services for community banks; and acquires, manages, and disposes real property, other collateral, and other assets obtained in the ordinary course of collecting debts. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, Inc. was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Newton, North Carolina.