Critical Contrast: First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) & Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB)

Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) and First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and earnings.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

52.1% of Civista Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of First Busey shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.6% of Civista Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of First Busey shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Civista Bancshares and First Busey’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Civista Bancshares	17.42%	10.86%	1.04%
First Busey	11.00%	9.56%	1.13%

Dividends

Civista Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. First Busey pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Civista Bancshares pays out 25.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Busey pays out 87.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Civista Bancshares has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years and First Busey has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years. First Busey is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Risk & Volatility

Civista Bancshares has a beta of 0.79, indicating that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Busey has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Civista Bancshares and First Busey”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Civista Bancshares	$164.03 million	2.62	$31.68 million	$2.68	8.32
First Busey	$636.13 million	3.23	$113.69 million	$1.15	20.18

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Civista Bancshares and First Busey, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Civista Bancshares	0	5	2	0	2.29
First Busey	0	4	3	0	2.43

Civista Bancshares currently has a consensus target price of $24.60, suggesting a potential upside of 10.36%. First Busey has a consensus target price of $26.33, suggesting a potential upside of 13.46%. Given First Busey’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe First Busey is more favorable than Civista Bancshares.

Summary

First Busey beats Civista Bancshares on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Civista Bancshares

Civista Bancshares, Inc. operates as the financial holding company for Civista Bank that provides community banking services. It collects a range of customer deposits; and offers commercial and agriculture, commercial and residential real estate, farm real estate, real estate construction, consumer, and other loans, as well as letters of credit. The company also holds and manages securities portfolio; leases general equipment; and provides captive insurance products. It operates in North Central, West Central, South Western Ohio, South Eastern Indiana, and Northern Kentucky. The company was formerly known as First Citizens Banc Corp and changed its name to Civista Bancshares, Inc. in May 2015. Civista Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1884 and is headquartered in Sandusky, Ohio.

About First Busey

First Busey Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Busey Bank that engages in the provision of retail and commercial banking products and services to individual, corporate, institutional, and governmental customers in the United States. It operates through three segments: Banking, Wealth Management, and FirsTech. The Banking segment provides banking services to individual customers, such as demand and savings deposits, money transfers, safe deposit services, individual retirement accounts and other fiduciary services, automated teller machines, and technology-based networks, as well as loan products, including residential real estate, home equity lines of credit, and consumer loans. This segment also offers banking services to corporate customers, including commercial, commercial real estate, real estate construction, and agricultural loans, as well as cash management services. The Wealth Management segment offers a range of investment and asset management, investment, brokerage, investment strategy consulting, fiduciary, philanthropic advisory, tax preparation, business succession planning, and employee retirement plan services to individuals, businesses, and foundations; and professional farm management services to the agricultural industry. The FirsTech segment provides payment technology solutions comprising online, mobile, and voice-recognition bill payments; money management and credit card networks; direct debit services; lockbox remittance processing for payments made by mail; and walk-in payments, as well as tools to help clients with billing, reconciliation, bill reminders, and treasury services. The company was founded in 1868 and is headquartered in Champaign, Illinois.