Heartland BancCorp. (OTCMKTS:HLAN) vs. Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) Critical Survey

Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) and Heartland BancCorp. (OTCMKTS:HLAN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, dividends and valuation.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Civista Bancshares and Heartland BancCorp.”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Civista Bancshares	$176.29 million	3.49	$46.21 million	$2.72	9.17
Heartland BancCorp.	$119.21 million	2.74	$20.26 million	$9.74	16.43

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

52.1% of Civista Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 7.5% of Heartland BancCorp. shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of Civista Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 22.7% of Heartland BancCorp. shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Civista Bancshares has a beta of 0.64, suggesting that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Heartland BancCorp. has a beta of 0.42, suggesting that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Civista Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Heartland BancCorp. pays an annual dividend of $0.75 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Civista Bancshares pays out 26.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Heartland BancCorp. pays out 7.7% 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. Civista Bancshares has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Civista Bancshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Civista Bancshares and Heartland BancCorp., as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Civista Bancshares	0	4	3	0	2.43
Heartland BancCorp.	0	0	0	0	0.00

Civista Bancshares presently has a consensus target price of $26.60, indicating a potential upside of 6.66%. Given Civista Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Civista Bancshares is more favorable than Heartland BancCorp..

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Civista Bancshares	19.73%	11.09%	1.27%
Heartland BancCorp.	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Civista Bancshares beats Heartland BancCorp. 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 Heartland BancCorp.

Heartland BancCorp operates as the bank holding company for Heartland Bank that provides various banking and financial services to individual and corporate customers. The company offers personal and business checking and savings accounts. It also provides various lending solutions comprising agricultural loans, commercial and business lending, home and personal loans, and title services. In addition, the company offers online banking, treasury management, credit and debit card, and mobile wallet services. Further, it provides education planning, insurance, wealth management, and retirement planning services. Heartland BancCorp was founded in 1911 and is based in Whitehall, Ohio.