Bar Harbor Bankshares (NYSE:BHB) and Equity Bancshares (NYSE:EQBK) Critical Survey

Bar Harbor Bankshares (NYSE:BHB) and Equity Bancshares (NYSE:EQBK) are both small-cap financial services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and earnings.

Dividends

Bar Harbor Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Equity Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Bar Harbor Bankshares pays out 49.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Equity Bancshares pays out 14.9% 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. Bar Harbor Bankshares has increased its dividend for 22 consecutive years. Bar Harbor Bankshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Bar Harbor Bankshares and Equity Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bar Harbor Bankshares	N/A	N/A	N/A
Equity Bancshares	19.99%	12.17%	1.33%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

54.5% of Bar Harbor Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.8% of Equity Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 2.6% of Bar Harbor Bankshares shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.6% of Equity Bancshares shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Bar Harbor Bankshares has a beta of 0.69, meaning that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equity Bancshares has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Bar Harbor Bankshares and Equity Bancshares”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bar Harbor Bankshares	$147.73 million	3.64	$43.04 million	$2.58	12.51
Equity Bancshares	$335.67 million	2.32	$62.62 million	$4.03	10.06

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Bar Harbor Bankshares and Equity Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bar Harbor Bankshares	0	0	1	0	3.00
Equity Bancshares	0	0	0	0	0.00

Bar Harbor Bankshares presently has a consensus target price of $35.00, suggesting a potential upside of 8.46%. Given Bar Harbor Bankshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Bar Harbor Bankshares is more favorable than Equity Bancshares.

Summary

Equity Bancshares beats Bar Harbor Bankshares on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bar Harbor Bankshares

Bar Harbor Bankshares operates as the holding company for Bar Harbor Bank & Trust that provides commercial, lending, retail, and wealth management banking services. It accepts various deposit products, including interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing demand accounts, savings accounts, time deposits, and money market deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also provides commercial real estate loans, such as multi-family, commercial construction and land development, and other commercial real estate classes; commercial and industrial loans, including loans to commercial and agricultural businesses, and tax exempt entities; residential real estate loans consists of mortgages for 1-4 family housing; and consumer loans comprises home equity loans, lines of credit, auto, and other installment lending. In addition, it provides life insurance, annuity, and retirement products, as well as financial planning services; and third-party investment and insurance services. Further, the company offers trust and estate administration, wealth advisory, and investment management services to individuals, businesses, not-for-profit organizations, and municipalities; and 401K plan, financial, estate and charitable planning, investment management, family office, municipal, and tax services. It operates 53 locations across Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The company was founded in 1887 and is based in Bar Harbor, Maine.

About Equity Bancshares

Equity Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Equity Bank that provides a range of banking, mortgage banking, and financial services to individual and corporate customers. The company accepts various demand, savings, money market, and time deposits. Its loan products include commercial and industrial, commercial real estate-backed, commercial lines of credit, working capital, term, equipment financing, acquisition, expansion and development, borrowing base, real estate construction, homebuilder, agricultural, government guaranteed, and other loan products to national and regional companies, restaurant franchisees, hoteliers, real estate developers, manufacturing and industrial companies, agribusiness companies, and other businesses. The company’s loan products also comprise various consumer loans to individuals and professionals, including residential real estate loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, installment loans, unsecured and secured personal lines of credit, overdraft protection, and letters of credit. It also provides debit cards; online banking solutions, such as access to account balances, online transfers, online bill payment, and electronic delivery of customer statements; mobile banking solutions comprising remote check deposits with mobile bill pay; ATMs; and treasury management, wire transfer, automated clearing house, and stop payment services. In addition, the company offers cash management deposit products, such as lockbox, remote deposit capture, positive pay, reverse positive pay, account reconciliation services, zero balance accounts, and sweep accounts, as well as banking services through telephone, mail, and personal appointments. As of December 31, 2021, it operated a network of 69 branches in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Wichita, Kansas.