Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC – Get Free Report) and NB Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBBK – Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, earnings, risk and institutional ownership.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
71.7% of Eastern Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Eastern Bankshares shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.1% of NB Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Risk and Volatility
Eastern Bankshares has a beta of 0.69, meaning that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NB Bancorp has a beta of 0.06, meaning that its stock price is 94% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Eastern Bankshares | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 2.89 |
| NB Bancorp | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
Eastern Bankshares presently has a consensus target price of $22.92, suggesting a potential upside of 10.50%. NB Bancorp has a consensus target price of $24.00, suggesting a potential upside of 18.23%. Given NB Bancorp’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe NB Bancorp is more favorable than Eastern Bankshares.
Profitability
This table compares Eastern Bankshares and NB Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Eastern Bankshares | 26.28% | 8.42% | 1.21% |
| NB Bancorp | 13.81% | 8.57% | 1.09% |
Dividends
Eastern Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. NB Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Eastern Bankshares pays out 33.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NB Bancorp pays out 20.4% 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. Eastern Bankshares has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Eastern Bankshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Eastern Bankshares and NB Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Eastern Bankshares | $1.33 billion | 3.61 | $88.22 million | $1.78 | 11.65 |
| NB Bancorp | $351.74 million | 2.58 | $50.30 million | $1.37 | 14.82 |
Eastern Bankshares has higher revenue and earnings than NB Bancorp. Eastern Bankshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NB Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Eastern Bankshares beats NB Bancorp on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Eastern Bankshares
Eastern Bankshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Eastern Bank that provides banking products and services primarily to retail, commercial, and small business customers. The company provides deposit accounts, interest checking accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, and time certificates of deposit accounts. It also offers commercial and industrial, commercial real estate and construction, small business, residential real estate, and home equity loans; lines of credit; and other consumer loans comprising unsecured personal lines of credit, overdraft protection, automobile loans, home improvement loans, airplane loans, and other personal loans. In addition, the company provides trust, financial planning and portfolio management, automated lock box collection, cash management, and account reconciliation services; personal, business, and employee benefits insurance products. Eastern Bankshares, Inc. was founded in 1818 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.
About NB Bancorp
NB Bancorp, Inc. focuses on operating as a bank holding company for Needham Bank that provides various banking products and services in Greater Boston metropolitan area and surrounding communities in Massachusetts, eastern Connecticut, southern New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The company offers various deposits, including certificate of deposit, individual retirement, money market, savings, NOW, demand deposit, and interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing checking accounts; and commercial real estate and multifamily, one- to four-family residential real estate, construction and land development, commercial and industrial, and consumer loans, as well as home equity loans and lines of credit. It also invests in securities consisting of U.S. treasury and federal agency securities, government-sponsored residential mortgage-backed securities, municipal bonds, and corporate bonds. The company was founded in 1892 and is based in Needham, Massachusetts.
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