Head-To-Head Comparison: Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) versus Surrey Bancorp (OTCMKTS:SRYB)

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) and Surrey Bancorp (OTCMKTS:SRYB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends and earnings.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

71.8% of Equity Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.7% of Surrey Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.0% of Equity Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 33.7% of Surrey Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Equity Bancshares and Surrey Bancorp’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Equity Bancshares	$153.31 million	4.14	$7.82 million	$0.60	69.35
Surrey Bancorp	$16.20 million	4.23	$5.10 million	$1.52	10.99

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Equity Bancshares and Surrey Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Equity Bancshares	0	3	1	0	2.25
Surrey Bancorp	0	0	0	0	N/A

Equity Bancshares currently has a consensus target price of $39.00, indicating a potential downside of 6.27%. Given Equity Bancshares’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Equity Bancshares is more favorable than Surrey Bancorp.

Volatility and Risk

Equity Bancshares has a beta of 0.9, suggesting that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Surrey Bancorp has a beta of 0.65, suggesting that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Equity Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Surrey Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Equity Bancshares pays out 80.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Surrey Bancorp pays out 31.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Surrey Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Equity Bancshares and Surrey Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equity Bancshares	3.75%	12.57%	1.10%
Surrey Bancorp	37.97%	N/A	N/A

Summary

Equity Bancshares beats Surrey Bancorp on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Equity Bancshares

Equity Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Equity Bank that provides a range of banking, mortgage banking, and financial services to individual and corporate customers. The company accepts various demand, savings, money market, and time deposits. Its loan products include commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, commercial lines of credit, working capital, term, equipment and aircraft financing, acquisition, expansion and development, borrowing base, real estate construction, homebuilder, agricultural, government guaranteed, and other loan products. The company's loan products also comprise 1 4 family residential mortgages, agriculture, consumer, residential real estate mortgage, and agricultural real estate and production loans. It also provides debit and credit cards; insurance brokerage; trust and wealth management; online banking solutions, such as access to account balances, online transfers, online bill payment, and electronic delivery of customer statements; mobile banking solutions comprising remote check deposits with mobile bill pay; ATMs; and treasury management, wire transfer, automated clearing house, and stop payment services. In addition, the company offers cash management deposit products, such as lockbox, remote deposit capture, positive pay, reverse positive pay, account reconciliation services, zero balance accounts, and sweep accounts, as well as banking services through telephone, mail, and personal appointments. It operates a network of branches in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Equity Bancshares, Inc. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Wichita, Kansas.

About Surrey Bancorp

Surrey BanCorp engages in the provision of banking solutions through its subsidiaries, Surrey Bank & Trust . It offers checking accounts, savings, deposit services, mortgages, real estate loans, commercial credit products, business checking, and electronic banking. The company was founded on May 1, 2003 and is headquartered in Mount Airy, NC.