How Should Investors Feel About Bar Harbor Bankshares' (NYSEMKT:BHB) CEO Remuneration?

Curtis Simard has been the CEO of Bar Harbor Bankshares (NYSEMKT:BHB) since 2013, and this article will examine the executive's compensation with respect to the overall performance of the company. This analysis will also look to assess whether the CEO is appropriately paid, considering recent earnings growth and investor returns for Bar Harbor Bankshares.

See our latest analysis for Bar Harbor Bankshares

Comparing Bar Harbor Bankshares' CEO Compensation With the industry

Our data indicates that Bar Harbor Bankshares has a market capitalization of US$309m, and total annual CEO compensation was reported as US$1.3m for the year to December 2019. That's just a smallish increase of 7.7% on last year. While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it's worth acknowledging that the salary portion is lower, valued at US$635k.

On comparing similar companies from the same industry with market caps ranging from US$200m to US$800m, we found that the median CEO total compensation was US$1.3m. So it looks like Bar Harbor Bankshares compensates Curtis Simard in line with the median for the industry. What's more, Curtis Simard holds US$933k worth of shares in the company in their own name.

Talking in terms of the industry, salary represented approximately 43% of total compensation out of all the companies we analyzed, while other remuneration made up 57% of the pie. There isn't a significant difference between Bar Harbor Bankshares and the broader market, in terms of salary allocation in the overall compensation package. It's important to note that a slant towards non-salary compensation suggests that total pay is tied to the company's performance.

Bar Harbor Bankshares' Growth

Bar Harbor Bankshares's earnings per share (EPS) grew 5.1% per year over the last three years. It achieved revenue growth of 9.8% over the last year.

We'd prefer higher revenue growth, but the modest improvement in EPS is good. So there are some positives here, but not enough to earn high praise. We don't have analyst forecasts, but you could get a better understanding of its growth by checking out this more detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Has Bar Harbor Bankshares Been A Good Investment?

With a three year total loss of 25% for the shareholders, Bar Harbor Bankshares would certainly have some dissatisfied shareholders. So shareholders would probably want the company to be lessto generous with CEO compensation.

In Summary...

As previously discussed, Curtis is compensated close to the median for companies of its size, and which belong to the same industry. Meanwhile, Bar Harbor Bankshares is suffering from adverse shareholder returns and althoughEPS have grown over the past three years, they have not been extraordinary. CEO pay isn't exceptionally high, but considering poor performance, shareholders will likely hold off support for a raise until results improve.

CEO compensation is one thing, but it is also interesting to check if the CEO is buying or selling Bar Harbor Bankshares (free visualization of insider trades).

Switching gears from Bar Harbor Bankshares, if you're hunting for a pristine balance sheet and premium returns, this free list of high return, low debt companies is a great place to look.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com.