Reviewing Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) and Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB)

Civista Bancshares (NASDAQ:CIVB) and Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, dividends and valuation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

52.1% of Civista Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.0% of Associated Banc shares are held by institutional investors. 2.6% of Civista Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Associated Banc shares are held 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 & Risk

Civista Bancshares has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Associated Banc has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Civista Bancshares and Associated Banc, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Civista Bancshares	0	3	2	0	2.40
Associated Banc	0	7	2	0	2.22

Civista Bancshares currently has a consensus price target of $24.80, suggesting a potential upside of 19.29%. Associated Banc has a consensus price target of $27.78, suggesting a potential upside of 5.72%. Given Civista Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Civista Bancshares is more favorable than Associated Banc.

Profitability

This table compares Civista Bancshares and Associated Banc’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%
Associated Banc	5.79%	8.86%	0.91%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Civista Bancshares and Associated Banc”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Civista Bancshares	$244.44 million	1.64	$31.68 million	$2.53	8.22
Associated Banc	$2.39 billion	1.82	$123.14 million	$0.77	34.12

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

Dividends

Civista Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Associated Banc pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Civista Bancshares pays out 26.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Associated Banc pays out 119.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Civista Bancshares has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years and Associated Banc has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Associated Banc is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

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 Associated Banc

Associated Banc-Corp, a bank holding company, provides various banking and nonbanking products to individuals and businesses in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota. The company offers lending solutions, including commercial loans and lines of credit, commercial real estate financing, construction loans, letters of credit, leasing, asset based lending and equipment finance, loan syndications products, residential mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, personal and installment loans, auto finance and business loans, and business lines of credit. It also provides deposit and cash management solutions, such as commercial checking and interest-bearing deposit products, cash vault and night depository services, liquidity solutions, payables and receivables solutions, and information services; specialized financial services, such as interest rate risk management and foreign exchange solutions; fiduciary services, such as administration of pension, profit-sharing and other employee benefit plans, fiduciary and corporate agency services, and institutional asset management services; and investable funds solutions, including savings, money market deposit accounts, IRA accounts, CDs, fixed and variable annuities, full-service, discount, and online investment brokerage; investment advisory services; and trust and investment management accounts. In addition, the company offers deposit and transactional solutions, including checking, credit, debit and pre-paid cards, online banking and bill pay; and money transfer services. Associated Banc-Corp was founded in 1861 and is headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin.