Reviewing Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) and Horizon Bancorp (IN) (NASDAQ:HBNC)

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) and Horizon Bancorp (IN) (NASDAQ:HBNC) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Eastern Bankshares and Horizon Bancorp (IN), as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eastern Bankshares	0	3	3	0	2.50
Horizon Bancorp (IN)	2	1	2	0	2.00

Eastern Bankshares presently has a consensus price target of $22.13, indicating a potential upside of 12.88%. Horizon Bancorp (IN) has a consensus price target of $20.33, indicating a potential upside of 20.24%. Given Horizon Bancorp (IN)’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Horizon Bancorp (IN) is more favorable than Eastern Bankshares.

Volatility and Risk

Eastern Bankshares has a beta of 0.81, suggesting that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Horizon Bancorp (IN) has a beta of 0.82, suggesting that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Eastern Bankshares and Horizon Bancorp (IN)”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Eastern Bankshares	$1.33 billion	3.11	$88.20 million	$0.41	47.80
Horizon Bancorp (IN)	$405.46 million	2.14	-$150.48 million	($3.15)	-5.37

Eastern Bankshares has higher revenue and earnings than Horizon Bancorp (IN). Horizon Bancorp (IN) is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Eastern Bankshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

71.7% of Eastern Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.5% of Horizon Bancorp (IN) shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Eastern Bankshares shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.5% of Horizon Bancorp (IN) 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 Eastern Bankshares and Horizon Bancorp (IN)’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eastern Bankshares	8.32%	8.62%	1.26%
Horizon Bancorp (IN)	-37.12%	11.56%	1.17%

Dividends

Eastern Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Horizon Bancorp (IN) pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Eastern Bankshares pays out 126.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Horizon Bancorp (IN) pays out -20.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Eastern Bankshares has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Horizon Bancorp (IN) is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Eastern Bankshares beats Horizon Bancorp (IN) on 11 of the 17 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 Horizon Bancorp (IN)

Horizon Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Horizon Bank that engages in the provision of commercial and retail banking services. The company offers checking, saving, money market, certificate of deposits, individual retirement accounts, and time deposits, as well as non-interest- and interest-bearing demand deposits. It also provides commercial, residential real estate, mortgage, home equity, auto, personal, business, agricultural, and SBA loans, as well as credit cards. In addition, the company offers corporate and individual trust and agency, investment management, and real estate investment trust services; debit cards; treasury management; online and mobile banking; wealth, retirement, and estate and trust services; and sells various insurance products. It operates through full-service offices in northern and central Indiana and southern and central Michigan. Horizon Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1873 and is headquartered in Michigan City, Indiana.