Origin Bancorp (NASDAQ:OBK) and Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) Head to Head Comparison

Origin Bancorp (NASDAQ:OBK) and Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

54.7% of Origin Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.2% of Lakeland Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.2% of Origin Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.3% of Lakeland Financial 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.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Origin Bancorp	12.34%	6.91%	0.77%
Lakeland Financial	21.74%	13.31%	1.35%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Origin Bancorp and Lakeland Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Origin Bancorp	0	1	3	1	3.00
Lakeland Financial	0	1	0	0	2.00

Origin Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $43.40, suggesting a potential upside of 15.49%. Lakeland Financial has a consensus target price of $74.00, suggesting a potential upside of 11.82%. Given Origin Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Origin Bancorp is more favorable than Lakeland Financial.

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Origin Bancorp	$619.96 million	1.89	$76.49 million	$2.46	15.28
Lakeland Financial	$430.00 million	3.93	$93.48 million	$3.63	18.23

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

Dividends

Origin Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Lakeland Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Origin Bancorp pays out 24.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Lakeland Financial pays out 55.1% 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.

Risk and Volatility

Origin Bancorp has a beta of 1, suggesting that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Lakeland Financial has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Lakeland Financial beats Origin Bancorp on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Origin Bancorp

Origin Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Origin Bank that provides banking and financial services to small and medium-sized businesses, municipalities, and retail clients in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. It offers noninterest and interest-bearing checking accounts, savings deposits, money market accounts, and time deposits; and offers commercial real estate, construction and land development, consumer, residential real estate, commercial and industrial, mortgage warehouse, and residential mortgage loans. The company also offers personal and commercial property, and casualty insurance products; and Internet banking and voice response information, mobile applications, cash management, overdraft protection, direct deposit, safe deposit boxes, U.S. savings bonds, and automatic account transfer services; and mobile and online banking, treasury management, mortgage origination and servicing facilities, peer-to-peer electronic pay solutions, and personal financial management solutions. The company was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Ruston, Louisiana.

About Lakeland Financial

Lakeland Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Lake City Bank that provides various banking products and services in the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, such as noninterest bearing, interest-bearing checking, savings, money market, NOW, and demand deposits. Its loan products include commercial and industrial, commercial real estate and multi-family residential, construction, agri-business and agricultural, consumer 1-4 family mortgage, and other commercial and consumer loans. The company also provides retail and merchant credit card services; corporate treasury management, wealth advisory, and trust services; retail brokerage services, including various financial and investment products, such as annuities and life insurance; and mobile business banking and on-line treasury management services. It serves commercial real estate, manufacturing, agriculture, construction, retail, wholesale, finance and insurance, accommodation and food services, and health care industries. The company was founded in 1872 and is headquartered in Warsaw, Indiana.