Southside Bancshares (NASDAQ:SBSI) & Kentucky Bancshares (OTCMKTS:KTYB) Financial Analysis

Kentucky Bancshares (OTCMKTS:KTYB) and Southside Bancshares (NASDAQ:SBSI) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk and dividends.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Kentucky Bancshares and Southside Bancshares”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kentucky Bancshares	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Southside Bancshares	$258.81 million	3.30	$88.49 million	$2.91	9.72

Southside Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than Kentucky Bancshares.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Kentucky Bancshares and Southside Bancshares, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kentucky Bancshares	0	0	0	0	0.00
Southside Bancshares	0	3	0	0	2.00

Southside Bancshares has a consensus target price of $37.00, indicating a potential upside of 30.77%. Given Southside Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Southside Bancshares is more favorable than Kentucky Bancshares.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

55.7% of Southside Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 15.0% of Kentucky Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.0% of Southside Bancshares 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.

Profitability

This table compares Kentucky Bancshares and Southside Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kentucky Bancshares	N/A	N/A	N/A
Southside Bancshares	19.40%	11.10%	1.06%

Summary

Southside Bancshares beats Kentucky Bancshares on 7 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kentucky Bancshares

Kentucky Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Kentucky Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking products and services. It accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, and money market accounts; and certificates of deposit, safe deposits, interest and noninterest bearing deposits, and time deposits. The company also offers commercial, agricultural, and real estate loans to small-to-medium-sized industrial, service, and agricultural businesses; and residential mortgages, installments, and other loans to individual and other non-commercial customers. In addition, it provides credit cards and other consumer-oriented financial services; brokerage services, annuities, life and long-term care insurance, personal trust, and agency services; and Internet banking services, such as bill payment. The company has operations in Bourbon, Clark, Elliott, Fayette, Harrison, Jessamine, Madison, Rowan, Scott, Woodford, and other counties in Kentucky. Kentucky Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Paris, Kentucky.

About Southside Bancshares

Southside Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Southside Bank that provides a range of financial services to individuals, businesses, municipal entities, and nonprofit organizations. Its deposit products include savings, money market, and interest and noninterest bearing checking accounts, as well as certificates of deposits. The company’s loan portfolio comprises consumer loans that include 1-4 family residential loans, home equity loans, home improvement loans, automobile loans, and other consumer related loans; commercial loans, such as short-term working capital loans for inventory and accounts receivable, short and medium-term loans for equipment or other business capital expansion, commercial real estate loans, and municipal loans; and construction loans for 1-4 family residential and commercial real estate. It also offers wealth management and trust services consisting of investment management, administration of irrevocable, revocable, and testamentary trusts, estate administration, and custodian services for individuals, partnerships, and corporations; safe deposit services; and brokerage services. In addition, the company provides retirement and employee benefit accounts, including plans and profit sharing plans; and telephone, internet, and mobile banking services. The company offers various banking services through branches, drive-thru facilities, automated teller machines, and interactive teller machines. Southside Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Tyler, Texas.