Reviewing Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) & Heartland BancCorp. (OTCMKTS:HLAN)

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

Profitability

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

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Heartland BancCorp. and Civista Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

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

Civista Bancshares has a consensus price target of $26.20, suggesting a potential upside of 6.81%. Given Civista Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Civista Bancshares is more favorable than Heartland BancCorp..

Insider & Institutional Ownership

7.5% of Heartland BancCorp. shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.1% of Civista Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 22.7% of Heartland BancCorp. shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Civista 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Heartland BancCorp. and Civista Bancshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Heartland BancCorp.	$119.21 million	2.74	$20.26 million	$9.74	16.43
Civista Bancshares	$254.95 million	2.37	$46.21 million	$2.66	9.22

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.

Summary

Civista Bancshares beats Heartland BancCorp. on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

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.