NB Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBBK) vs. Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) Critical Contrast

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

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares NB Bancorp and Eastern Bankshares”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NB Bancorp	$351.74 million	2.58	$50.30 million	$1.37	14.82
Eastern Bankshares	$1.33 billion	3.61	$88.22 million	$1.78	11.65

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.

Dividends

NB Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Eastern Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. NB Bancorp pays out 20.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Eastern Bankshares pays out 33.7% 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.

Risk and Volatility

NB Bancorp has a beta of 0.06, indicating that its stock price is 94% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Eastern Bankshares has a beta of 0.69, indicating that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

71.7% of Eastern Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.1% of NB Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Eastern Bankshares shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares NB Bancorp and Eastern Bankshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NB Bancorp	13.81%	8.57%	1.09%
Eastern Bankshares	26.28%	8.42%	1.21%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for NB Bancorp and Eastern Bankshares, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NB Bancorp	1	2	1	0	2.00
Eastern Bankshares	0	2	6	1	2.89

NB Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $24.00, suggesting a potential upside of 18.23%. Eastern Bankshares has a consensus target price of $22.92, suggesting a potential upside of 10.50%. Given NB Bancorp’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe NB Bancorp is more favorable than Eastern Bankshares.

Summary

Eastern Bankshares beats NB Bancorp on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

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.