Financial Contrast: Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY) vs. TrustCo Bank Corp NY (NASDAQ:TRST)

TrustCo Bank Corp NY (NASDAQ:TRST) and Oak Valley Bancorp (NASDAQ:OVLY) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Dividends

TrustCo Bank Corp NY pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Oak Valley Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.75 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. TrustCo Bank Corp NY pays out 44.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Oak Valley Bancorp pays out 26.6% 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. Oak Valley Bancorp has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

68.6% of TrustCo Bank Corp NY shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.9% of Oak Valley Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.4% of TrustCo Bank Corp NY shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.9% of Oak Valley Bancorp 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares TrustCo Bank Corp NY and Oak Valley Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TrustCo Bank Corp NY	$278.36 million	3.47	$61.14 million	$3.60	15.74
Oak Valley Bancorp	$95.04 million	3.06	$23.91 million	$2.82	12.27

TrustCo Bank Corp NY has higher revenue and earnings than Oak Valley Bancorp. Oak Valley Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than TrustCo Bank Corp NY, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for TrustCo Bank Corp NY and Oak Valley Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TrustCo Bank Corp NY	0	0	1	0	3.00
Oak Valley Bancorp	0	0	1	0	3.00

Profitability

This table compares TrustCo Bank Corp NY and Oak Valley Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TrustCo Bank Corp NY	22.76%	9.62%	1.01%
Oak Valley Bancorp	24.05%	11.31%	1.17%

Risk and Volatility

TrustCo Bank Corp NY has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Oak Valley Bancorp has a beta of 0.21, indicating that its stock price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

TrustCo Bank Corp NY beats Oak Valley Bancorp on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TrustCo Bank Corp NY

TrustCo Bank Corp NY operates as the holding company for Trustco Bank, a federal savings bank that provides personal and business banking services to individuals and businesses. The company accepts deposits; and offers loans and investments. It also operates as a real estate investment trust that acquires, holds, and manages real estate mortgage assets, including residential mortgage loans and mortgage-backed securities. In addition, the company serves as the executor of estates and trustee of personal trusts; provides asset and wealth management, estate planning and related advice, and custodial services; and acts as trustee for various types of employee benefit plans, and corporate pension and profit-sharing trusts. It operates through banking offices in Albany, Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Montgomery, Orange, Putnam, Rensselaer, Rockland, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Ulster, Warren, Washington, and Westchester counties of New York; Brevard, Charlotte, Flagler, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lake, Manatee, Martin, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Polk, Sarasota, Seminole, and Volusia counties in Florida; Bennington County in Vermont; Berkshire County in Massachusetts; and Bergen County in New Jersey, as well as automatic teller machines. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Glenville, New York.

About Oak Valley Bancorp

Oak Valley Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Oak Valley Community Bank that provides a range of commercial banking services to individuals and small to medium-sized businesses in the Central Valley and the Eastern Sierras. The company's deposits products include checking and savings, money market, health savings, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also offers commercial real estate loans, commercial business lending and trade finance, and small business administration lending, as well as consumer loans, including automobile loans, home mortgages, credit lines, and other personal loans. In addition, the company provides online and mobile banking, remote deposit capture, merchant, night depository, extended hours, wire transfer of funds, note collection services, and automated teller machines. The company was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Oakdale, California.