Our Take On City Holding Company's (NASDAQ:CHCO) CEO Salary
Skip Hageboeck has been the CEO of City Holding Company (NASDAQ:CHCO) since 2005. This report will, first, examine the CEO compensation levels in comparison to CEO compensation at companies of similar size. After that, we will consider the growth in the business. Third, we'll reflect on the total return to shareholders over three years, as a second measure of business performance. This method should give us information to assess how appropriately the company pays the CEO.
See our latest analysis for City Holding
How Does Skip Hageboeck's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?
According to our data, City Holding Company has a market capitalization of US$1.3b, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth US$1.3m over the year to December 2018. While we always look at total compensation first, we note that the salary component is less, at US$619k. When we examined a selection of companies with market caps ranging from US$1.0b to US$3.2b, we found the median CEO total compensation was US$3.9m.
This would give shareholders a good impression of the company, since most similar size companies have to pay more, leaving less for shareholders. However, before we heap on the praise, we should delve deeper to understand business performance.
You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at City Holding, below.
Is City Holding Company Growing?
Over the last three years City Holding Company has grown its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 12% per year (using a line of best fit). In the last year, its revenue is up 14%.
Overall this is a positive result for shareholders, showing that the company has improved in recent years. It's also good to see decent revenue growth in the last year, suggesting the business is healthy and growing. It could be important to check this free visual depiction of what analysts expect for the future.
Has City Holding Company Been A Good Investment?
City Holding Company has generated a total shareholder return of 27% over three years, so most shareholders would be reasonably content. But they probably wouldn't be so happy as to think the CEO should be paid more than is normal, for companies around this size.
In Summary...
It looks like City Holding Company pays its CEO less than similar sized companies.
Considering the underlying business is growing earnings, this would suggest the pay is modest. The total shareholder return might not be amazing, but that doesn't mean that Skip Hageboeck is paid too much. Few would complain about reasonable CEO remuneration when the business is growing earnings per share. But for me, it's even better if insiders are also buying shares with their own cold, hard, cash. If you think CEO compensation levels are interesting you will probably really like this free visualization of insider trading at City Holding.
Arguably, business quality is much more important than CEO compensation levels. So check out this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.
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