Ottawa Bancorp (OTCMKTS:OTTW) vs. HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) Head to Head Analysis

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) and Ottawa Bancorp (OTCMKTS:OTTW) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, profitability, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for HBT Financial and Ottawa Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HBT Financial	0	2	2	2	3.00
Ottawa Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00

HBT Financial currently has a consensus price target of $30.75, suggesting a potential upside of 8.27%. Given HBT Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe HBT Financial is more favorable than Ottawa Bancorp.

Dividends

HBT Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Ottawa Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. HBT Financial pays out 42.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ottawa Bancorp pays out 55.7% 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. HBT Financial has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. HBT Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares HBT Financial and Ottawa Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
HBT Financial	$293.97 million	3.51	$77.01 million	$2.18	13.03
Ottawa Bancorp	$18.48 million	1.90	$1.68 million	$0.79	19.30

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

Profitability

This table compares HBT Financial and Ottawa Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HBT Financial	22.72%	13.87%	1.65%
Ottawa Bancorp	9.69%	4.68%	0.52%

Risk and Volatility

HBT Financial has a beta of 0.53, indicating that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ottawa Bancorp has a beta of 0.13, indicating that its stock price is 87% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

78.6% of HBT Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 51.9% of HBT Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.8% of Ottawa Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

HBT Financial beats Ottawa Bancorp on 17 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About HBT Financial

HBT Financial, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Heartland Bank and Trust Company that provides business, commercial, and retail banking products and services to individuals, businesses, and municipal entities in Central and Northeastern Illinois, and Eastern Iowa. The company's deposits accounts consist of noninterest-bearing demand deposits, interest-bearing transaction accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, certificates of deposits, health savings accounts, and individual retirement accounts. Its loan offering comprises owner and non-owner occupied commercial real estate; construction and land development and multi-family; commercial and industrial; agricultural and farmland; and one-to-four family residential loans, as well as municipal, consumer, and other loans. The company also offers wealth management services, including financial planning to consumers, trusts, and estates; trustee and custodial; investment management; corporate retirement plan consulting and administration; and retail brokerage services. In addition, it provides farmland management, and farmland sales and services; commercial checking accounts; and treasury management services, as well as originates and sells residential mortgage loans. Further, the company offers digital banking services, such as online and mobile banking, and digital payment services, as well as personal financial management tools. The company was formerly known as Heartland Bancorp, Inc. and changed its name to HBT Financial, Inc. in September 2019. HBT Financial, Inc. was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in Bloomington, Illinois.

About Ottawa Bancorp

Ottawa Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for OSB Community Bank, a savings bank that provides various financial services to individual and corporate customers in Illinois. The company's deposit products include saving, checking, money market, and interest-bearing accounts, as well as certificate of deposit. Its loan portfolio comprises commercial, non-residential real estate, one-to-four family residential, multi-family residential, consumer direct, and purchased auto loans; business and construction loans; motor vehicle, home improvement, share, and personal unsecured loans, as well as home equity and small personal credit lines; mortgage loans; and student loans. The company also provides cash management solutions, such as remote deposit capture, automated clearing house/payroll direct deposit, and merchant services, as well as commercial leasing services. In addition, it offers notary, lamination, night depository, document faxing, money gift envelopes, safe deposit boxes, and coin counting, as well as debit and credit cards, and digital banking services. The company was formerly known as Ottawa Savings Bancorp, Inc. and changed its name to Ottawa Bancorp, Inc. in October 2016. Ottawa Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1871 and is based in Ottawa, Illinois.