Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) & Byline Bancorp (NYSE:BY) Head-To-Head Contrast

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Eastern Bankshares and Byline Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eastern Bankshares	0	2	7	0	2.78
Byline Bancorp	0	1	2	1	3.00

Eastern Bankshares presently has a consensus target price of $23.08, suggesting a potential upside of 4.59%. Byline Bancorp has a consensus target price of $36.00, suggesting a potential downside of 4.26%. Given Eastern Bankshares’ higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Eastern Bankshares is more favorable than Byline Bancorp.

Dividends

Eastern Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Byline Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Eastern Bankshares pays out 33.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Byline Bancorp pays out 15.6% 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 increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Byline Bancorp has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Eastern Bankshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

71.7% of Eastern Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.7% of Byline Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of Eastern Bankshares shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 28.8% of Byline Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Eastern Bankshares has a beta of 0.69, meaning that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Byline Bancorp has a beta of 0.75, meaning that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Eastern Bankshares and Byline Bancorp”s gross 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	3.84	$88.22 million	$1.78	12.40
Byline Bancorp	$449.96 million	3.79	$130.05 million	$3.07	12.25

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

Profitability

This table compares Eastern Bankshares and Byline 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%
Byline Bancorp	21.86%	11.56%	1.47%

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 Byline Bancorp

Byline Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Byline Bank that provides various banking products and services for small and medium sized businesses, commercial real estate and financial sponsors, and consumers in the United States. It offers various retail deposit products, including non-interest-bearing accounts, money market demand accounts, savings accounts, interest-bearing checking accounts, and time deposits; ATM and debit cards; and online, mobile, and text banking services, as well as commercial deposits. The company also provides term loans, revolving lines of credit, and construction financing services; senior secured financing solutions to private equity backed lower middle market companies; small business administration and united states department of agriculture loans; and treasury management products and services. In addition, it offers financing solutions for equipment vendors and their end users; syndication services; and investment, trust, and wealth management services that include fiduciary and executor services, financial planning solutions, investment advisory services, and private banking services for foundations and endowments, and high net worth individuals. The company was formerly known as Metropolitan Bank Group, Inc. and changed its name to Byline Bancorp, Inc. in 2015. Byline Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1914 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.