OFG Bancorp (NYSE:OFG) & Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Head-To-Head Analysis

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

Dividends

OFG Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Business First Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. OFG Bancorp pays out 26.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Business First Bancshares pays out 21.5% 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. OFG Bancorp has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years and Business First Bancshares has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. OFG Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

92.7% of OFG Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.4% of Business First Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of OFG Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.5% of Business First Bancshares shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

OFG Bancorp has a beta of 1.09, suggesting that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Business First Bancshares has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for OFG Bancorp and Business First Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
OFG Bancorp	0	0	1	0	3.00
Business First Bancshares	0	1	3	0	2.75

OFG Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $40.00, indicating a potential upside of 17.41%. Business First Bancshares has a consensus price target of $23.33, indicating a potential upside of 15.17%. Given OFG Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe OFG Bancorp is more favorable than Business First Bancshares.

Profitability

This table compares OFG Bancorp and Business First Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
OFG Bancorp	23.62%	16.25%	1.75%
Business First Bancshares	18.22%	13.28%	1.11%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares OFG Bancorp and Business First Bancshares’ gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
OFG Bancorp	$770.73 million	2.08	$181.87 million	$3.82	8.92
Business First Bancshares	$389.97 million	1.33	$71.04 million	$2.60	7.79

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

Summary

OFG Bancorp beats Business First Bancshares on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About OFG Bancorp

OFG Bancorp, a financial holding company, provides a range of banking and financial services. It operates through three segments: Banking, Wealth Management, and Treasury. The company offers checking and savings accounts, and individual retirement accounts; certificate of deposits, as well as time deposit products; commercial, consumer, auto leasing, and mortgage lending services; credit cards; cash management; financial planning and insurance services; and corporate and individual trust, and retirement services. In addition, it provides securities brokerage and investment advisory services, including various investment alternatives, such as tax-advantaged fixed income securities, mutual funds, stocks, and bonds to retail and institutional clients; and separately-managed accounts and mutual fund asset allocation programs. Further, the company engages in the insurance agency and reinsurance businesses; administration and servicing of retirement plans; and various treasury-related functions with an investment portfolio consisting of mortgage-backed securities, obligations of U.S. government sponsored agencies, and U.S. Treasury securities and money market instruments. Additionally, it offers money management and investment banking services; and engages in the asset/liability management activities, such as purchases and sales of investment securities, interest rate risk management, derivatives, and borrowings. The company provides investment brokerage, transactional, international trade financing, residential mortgage, and consumer finance services. OFG Bancorp was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

About Business First Bancshares

Business First Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for b1BANK that provides various banking products and services in Louisiana and Texas. It offers various deposit products and services, including checking, demand, money market, time, and savings accounts; and certificates of deposits, remote deposit capture, and direct deposit services. The company also provides commercial and industrial loans, such as working capital, term, equipment financing, asset acquisition, expansion and development, borrowing base, and other loan products, as well as commercial lines of credit, accounts receivable factoring, agricultural financing, and letters of credit; construction and development loans; commercial real estate loans; residential real estate loans comprising first and second lien 1-4 family mortgage loans, and home equity lines of credit; and consumer loans, including secured and unsecured installment, and term loans. In addition, it offers wealth management products, including mutual funds, annuities, individual retirement accounts, and other financial products, as well as other fiduciary and private banking products and services. Further, the company provides a range of other financial services comprising debit and credit cards, treasury and cash management, merchant, automated clearing house, lock-box, receivables factoring, correspondent banking, and other treasury services, as well as employee and payroll benefits solutions; and drive-through banking facilities, automated teller machines, night depository, personalized checks, electronic funds transfer, domestic and foreign wire transfer, traveler's checks, vault, loan and deposit sweep accounts, online and mobile banking, e-statements, and bank-by-mail services. Business First Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.