Reviewing Heartland BancCorp (OTCMKTS:HLAN) and Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST)

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) and Heartland BancCorp (OTCMKTS:HLAN) 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, earnings, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Southern First Bancshares and Heartland BancCorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Southern First Bancshares	0	0	1	0	3.00
Heartland BancCorp	0	1	1	0	2.50

Southern First Bancshares presently has a consensus target price of $44.00, suggesting a potential upside of 31.78%. Heartland BancCorp has a consensus target price of $122.50, suggesting a potential downside of 14.91%. Given Southern First Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Southern First Bancshares is more favorable than Heartland BancCorp.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

75.0% of Southern First Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 7.5% of Heartland BancCorp shares are held by institutional investors. 7.6% of Southern First Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 22.7% of Heartland BancCorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Southern First Bancshares and Heartland BancCorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Southern First Bancshares	6.67%	4.41%	0.34%
Heartland BancCorp	17.89%	N/A	N/A

Volatility and Risk

Southern First Bancshares has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Heartland BancCorp has a beta of 0.41, meaning that its stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Southern First Bancshares and Heartland BancCorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Southern First Bancshares	$87.85 million	3.10	$13.43 million	$1.64	20.36
Heartland BancCorp	$104.83 million	2.77	$19.52 million	$9.94	14.48

Heartland BancCorp has higher revenue and earnings than Southern First Bancshares. Heartland BancCorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southern First Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Southern First Bancshares beats Heartland BancCorp on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Southern First Bancshares

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Southern First Bank that provides commercial, consumer, and mortgage loans to the general public in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. The company accepts various deposit products that include checking accounts, commercial checking accounts, and savings accounts, as well as other time deposits, including daily money market accounts and long-term certificates of deposit. Its loan portfolio comprises commercial real estate loans; construction real estate loans; commercial business loans for various lines of businesses, such as the manufacturing, service industry, and professional service areas; consumer real estate and home equity loans; and other consumer loans, including secured and unsecured installment loans and revolving lines of credit. In addition, the company provides other bank services, such as internet banking, cash management, safe deposit boxes, direct deposit, automatic drafts, bill payment, and mobile banking services. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina.

About Heartland BancCorp

Heartland BancCorp operates as the bank holding company for Heartland Bank that provides various banking and financial services to individual and corporate customers. The company offers personal and business checking and savings accounts. It also provides various lending solutions comprising agricultural loans, commercial and business lending, home and personal loans, and title services. In addition, the company offers online banking, treasury management, credit and debit card, and mobile wallet services. Further, it provides education planning, insurance, wealth management, and retirement planning services. Heartland BancCorp was founded in 1911 and is based in Whitehall, Ohio.