Looking for a place to hide from the recent market turmoil? With the market’s 800+ point swings over the past week, you’re surely not alone in looking for more stability. Interestingly, it has been hiding in plain sight for much of the past year, in the Community Bank industry.
These are micro cap stocks, usually with market caps below $300M, and with a small amount of branches, often fewer than 5-10. We’ve held various community bank dividend stocks over the years, and, over the past 52 weeks, one bank in particular has been a safe haven holding for us: Access National Corporation, (NASDAQ:ANCX), a 5-branch bank in the DC area.
Profile: Access National Corporation is the parent of Access National Bank, a commercial bank serving middle market businesses and associated professionals throughout the Washington D.C. region. The Bank's core services include commercial credit, deposit, investment, cash management, private banking and real estate finance. The Bank also has subsidiaries that provide wealth management, retirement planning, securities brokerage and equipment leasing.
Dividends: Although ANCX isn’t a high dividend stock, it has a dependable 3% dividend yield, and has also achieved a 5-year dividend growth rate of 11.20%.
ANCX has also paid a special dividend in the 4th quarter, during years in which its Capital Ratio went over 10.50%. It paid $.70 in 2011 and 2012, and $.35 in 2013.
Options: We haven’t added options for ANCX to our Covered Calls Table, or to our Cash Secured Puts Table, as it doesn’t have options available yet.
Earnings: ANCX grew its deposits by over 14%, and its Net Income by nearly 38% in the 1st half of 2015. Its Book Value/Share also grew by 7.81%.
ANCX has had a long history of EPS growth:
Here’s a breakdown of ANCX’s pre-tax earnings between Mortgage Fee Income, (about 21% in 2014), and Commercial Bank earnings , (79% in 2014):
Commercial and Industrial loans have driven loan growth since the recession, and comprise over 75% of current loans:
Deposits Breakdown and Growth:
Earnings Beats and Rising Estimates: ANCX has beaten analysts consensus estimates for the past straight 4 quarters.
Valuations:
Major Shareholders: Management is well-aligned with shareholders, and ANCX’s shares are also held by 59 institutions.
Disclosure: Author owned shares of ANCX at the time of this writing.
Disclaimer: This article is intended for informational purposes only, and is not intended as investment advice. Please practice due diligence before purchasing any stock.