Ames National (ATLO) Competitors

HomeTrust Bancshares (NASDAQ:HTBI) and Ames National (NASDAQ:ATLO) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, media sentiment, risk, earnings, profitability, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of HTBI or ATLO?

60.9% of HomeTrust Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.5% of Ames National shares are held by institutional investors. 13.2% of HomeTrust Bancshares shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of Ames National shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is HTBI or ATLO a better dividend stock?

HomeTrust Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Ames National pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. HomeTrust Bancshares pays out 15.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ames National pays out 63.0% 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. HomeTrust Bancshares has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years.

Do analysts recommend HTBI or ATLO?

HomeTrust Bancshares currently has a consensus price target of $42.50, suggesting a potential upside of 20.88%. Given HomeTrust Bancshares' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe HomeTrust Bancshares is more favorable than Ames National.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HomeTrust Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Ames National	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Which has better valuation and earnings, HTBI or ATLO?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
HomeTrust Bancshares	$202.13M	3.05	$54.81M	$3.20	10.99
Ames National	$92.44M	1.75	$10.22M	$1.27	14.30

Is HTBI or ATLO more profitable?

HomeTrust Bancshares has a net margin of 18.57% compared to Ames National's net margin of 12.10%. HomeTrust Bancshares' return on equity of 10.43% beat Ames National's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HomeTrust Bancshares	18.57%	10.43%	1.18%
Ames National	12.10%	6.41%	0.53%

Which has more risk & volatility, HTBI or ATLO?

HomeTrust Bancshares has a beta of 0.86, indicating that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ames National has a beta of 0.48, indicating that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer HTBI or ATLO?

In the previous week, Ames National had 1 more articles in the media than HomeTrust Bancshares. MarketBeat recorded 1 mentions for Ames National and 0 mentions for HomeTrust Bancshares. HomeTrust Bancshares' average media sentiment score of 0.00 equaled Ames National'saverage media sentiment score.

Company	Overall Sentiment
HomeTrust Bancshares	Neutral
Ames National	Neutral

Summary

HomeTrust Bancshares beats Ames National on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.