Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) versus Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) Critical Survey

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

52.1% of Civista Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.7% of Peoples Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 2.6% of Civista Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.4% of Peoples Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Civista Bancshares and Peoples Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Civista Bancshares	0	5	1	1	2.43
Peoples Bancorp	0	4	1	1	2.50

Civista Bancshares presently has a consensus price target of $24.80, suggesting a potential upside of 19.35%. Peoples Bancorp has a consensus price target of $35.25, suggesting a potential upside of 21.05%. Given Peoples Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Peoples Bancorp is more favorable than Civista Bancshares.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Civista Bancshares	15.83%	9.77%	0.94%
Peoples Bancorp	16.88%	9.46%	1.15%

Volatility & Risk

Civista Bancshares has a beta of 0.73, suggesting that its stock price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Peoples Bancorp has a beta of 0.63, suggesting that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Civista Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Peoples Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. Civista Bancshares pays out 26.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Peoples Bancorp pays out 56.2% 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 increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years and Peoples Bancorp has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years. Peoples Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Civista Bancshares	$159.19 million	2.52	$31.68 million	$2.53	8.21
Peoples Bancorp	$620.14 million	1.67	$117.21 million	$2.92	9.97

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

Summary

Peoples Bancorp beats Civista Bancshares on 12 of the 16 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 Peoples Bancorp

Peoples Bancorp Inc. operates as the holding company for Peoples Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking products and services. The company accepts various deposit products, including demand deposit accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, and governmental deposits; and provides commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, construction, finance, residential real estate, and consumer indirect and direct loans, as well as home equity lines of credit and overdrafts. It also offers debit and automated teller machine (ATM) cards; safe deposit rental facilities; money orders and cashier’s checks; and telephone, mobile, and online banking services. In addition, the company provides various life, health, and property and casualty insurance products; third-party insurance administration; interactive teller machines; insurance premium financing; check deposit and alert notification; commercial and technology equipment leasing; fiduciary and trust; underwriting, origination, and servicing of equipment leases, and equipment financing agreements; and asset management and administration services, as well as employee benefit, retirement, and health care plan administration services. Further, it offers brokerage services through an unaffiliated registered broker-dealers; insurance premium finance lending and leasing; and credit cards to individuals and businesses, as well as provides merchant credit card transaction processing, and person-to-person payment processing services. Peoples Bancorp Inc. was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Marietta, Ohio.