Critical Survey: Midland States Bancorp (NASDAQ:MSBI) vs. Glacier Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBCI)

Glacier Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBCI) and Midland States Bancorp (NASDAQ:MSBI) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, profitability and valuation.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Glacier Bancorp and Midland States Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Glacier Bancorp	$833.08 million	6.96	$190.14 million	$1.67	30.62
Midland States Bancorp	$489.48 million	0.88	-$13.43 million	($1.05)	-19.07

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

Profitability

This table compares Glacier Bancorp and Midland States Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Glacier Bancorp	14.99%	5.98%	0.68%
Midland States Bancorp	-2.74%	-1.95%	-0.17%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

80.2% of Glacier Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.9% of Midland States Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Glacier Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.6% of Midland States Bancorp shares are owned by company 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.

Risk and Volatility

Glacier Bancorp has a beta of 0.8, suggesting that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Midland States Bancorp has a beta of 0.73, suggesting that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Glacier Bancorp and Midland States Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Glacier Bancorp	0	3	3	0	2.50
Midland States Bancorp	0	4	0	0	2.00

Glacier Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $51.50, indicating a potential upside of 0.72%. Midland States Bancorp has a consensus target price of $23.50, indicating a potential upside of 17.38%. Given Midland States Bancorp’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Midland States Bancorp is more favorable than Glacier Bancorp.

Dividends

Glacier Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Midland States Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.2%. Glacier Bancorp pays out 79.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Midland States Bancorp pays out -118.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Midland States Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Glacier Bancorp beats Midland States Bancorp on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Glacier Bancorp

Glacier Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Glacier Bank that provides commercial banking services to individuals, small to medium-sized businesses, community organizations, and public entities in the United States. The company offers retail banking, business banking, and mortgage origination and loan servicing services. It also provides non-interest bearing deposit and interest bearing deposit accounts, such as negotiable order of withdrawal and demand deposit accounts, savings, money market deposits, fixed rate certificates of deposit, negotiated-rate jumbo certificates, and individual retirement accounts. In addition, the company offers construction and permanent loans on residential real estate; consumer land or lot loans; unimproved land and land development loans; and residential builder guidance lines comprising pre-sold and spec-home construction, and lot acquisition loans. Further, it provides commercial real estate loans to purchase, construct, and finance commercial real estate properties; consumer loans secured by real estate, automobiles, or other assets; home equity loans consisting of junior lien mortgages, and first and junior lien lines of credit secured by owner-occupied 1-4 family residences; and agriculture loans. Glacier Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Kalispell, Montana.

About Midland States Bancorp

Midland States Bancorp, Inc. operates as a financial holding company for Midland States Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals, businesses, municipalities, and other entities. It operates through Banking, Wealth Management, and Other segments. The company provides a range of financial products and services to consumers and businesses, including commercial loans to finance agricultural equipment and production; and commercial real estate loans for owner occupied offices, warehouses and production facilities, office buildings, hotels, mixed-use residential and commercial facilities, retail centers, multifamily properties, and assisted living facilities. In addition, it offers construction and land development loans, such as real estate investment properties and residential developments, and lesser extent loans; and residential real estate loans, which includes first and second mortgage loans, and home equity lines of credit consisting of loans secured by first or second mortgages on primarily owner occupied primary residences. The company also provides consumer installment loans for the purchase of cars, boats and other recreational vehicles, as well as for the purchase of major appliances and other home improvement projects; and commercial equipment leasing programs for manufacturing, construction, transportation, and healthcare industries. Further, it offers merchant services; deposit products, including checking, time, savings, money market, and certificates of deposit, as well as sweep accounts; letters of credit; and trust and wealth management services, such as financial and estate planning, trustee and custodial, investment management, tax, insurance, and business planning, corporate retirement plan consulting and administration, and retail brokerage services. The company was founded in 1881 and is headquartered in Effingham, Illinois.