Comparing Kentucky Bancshares (OTCMKTS:KTYB) and CNB Financial (NASDAQ:CCNE)

Kentucky Bancshares (OTCMKTS:KTYB) and CNB Financial (NASDAQ:CCNE) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, risk, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Kentucky Bancshares and CNB Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kentucky Bancshares	0	0	0	0	0.00
CNB Financial	0	1	0	0	2.00

CNB Financial has a consensus price target of $22.00, suggesting a potential downside of 21.79%. Given CNB Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe CNB Financial is more favorable than Kentucky Bancshares.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

52.4% of CNB Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 15.0% of Kentucky Bancshares shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of CNB Financial 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.

Profitability

This table compares Kentucky Bancshares and CNB Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kentucky Bancshares	N/A	N/A	N/A
CNB Financial	14.90%	10.13%	0.91%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Kentucky Bancshares and CNB Financial”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kentucky Bancshares	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
CNB Financial	$327.03 million	1.81	$58.02 million	$2.34	12.02

CNB Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Kentucky Bancshares.

Summary

CNB Financial beats Kentucky Bancshares on 7 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kentucky Bancshares

Kentucky Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Kentucky Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking products and services. It accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, and money market accounts; and certificates of deposit, safe deposits, interest and noninterest bearing deposits, and time deposits. The company also offers commercial, agricultural, and real estate loans to small-to-medium-sized industrial, service, and agricultural businesses; and residential mortgages, installments, and other loans to individual and other non-commercial customers. In addition, it provides credit cards and other consumer-oriented financial services; brokerage services, annuities, life and long-term care insurance, personal trust, and agency services; and Internet banking services, such as bill payment. The company has operations in Bourbon, Clark, Elliott, Fayette, Harrison, Jessamine, Madison, Rowan, Scott, Woodford, and other counties in Kentucky. Kentucky Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Paris, Kentucky.

About CNB Financial

CNB Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for CNB Bank that provides a range of banking products and services for individual, business, governmental, and institutional customers. The company accepts checking, savings, and time deposit accounts; and offers real estate, commercial, industrial, residential, and consumer loans, as well as various other specialized financial services. It also provides private banking; and wealth and asset management services, including the administration of trusts and estates, retirement plans, and other employee benefit plans, as well as a range of wealth management services. In addition, the company invests in debt and equity securities; sells nonproprietary annuities and other insurance products; and offers small balance unsecured loans and secured loans primarily collateralized by automobiles and equipment, as well as engages in consumer discount loan and finance business. The company was founded in 1865 and is headquartered in Clearfield, Pennsylvania.