Contrasting Wayne Savings Bancshares (OTCMKTS:WAYN) and Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC)

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) and Wayne Savings Bancshares (OTCMKTS:WAYN) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, earnings, risk and dividends.

Dividends

Eastern Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Wayne Savings Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Eastern Bankshares pays out 15.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Wayne Savings Bancshares pays out 28.7% 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.

Volatility & Risk

Eastern Bankshares has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wayne Savings Bancshares has a beta of 0.28, indicating that its stock price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Eastern Bankshares and Wayne Savings Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eastern Bankshares	0	1	1	0	2.50
Wayne Savings Bancshares	0	0	0	0	N/A

Eastern Bankshares currently has a consensus price target of $18.75, indicating a potential upside of 7.27%. Given Eastern Bankshares’ higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Eastern Bankshares is more favorable than Wayne Savings Bancshares.

Profitability

This table compares Eastern Bankshares and Wayne Savings Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eastern Bankshares	48.38%	5.06%	0.68%
Wayne Savings Bancshares	17.74%	16.26%	1.03%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

71.7% of Eastern Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.1% of Wayne Savings Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.2% of Eastern Bankshares shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.2% of Wayne Savings Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Eastern Bankshares and Wayne Savings Bancshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Eastern Bankshares	$623.53 million	4.95	$232.18 million	$2.85	6.13
Wayne Savings Bancshares	$38.11 million	1.40	$7.83 million	$3.21	7.56

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

Summary

Eastern Bankshares beats Wayne Savings Bancshares on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

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 Wayne Savings Bancshares

Wayne Savings Bancshares, Inc. operates as the holding company for Wayne Savings Community Bank that provides personal and business banking products and services to individuals, businesses, and other organizations. The company offers checking, savings, money market, and term certificate accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. It also provides residential mortgage, commercial, installment, residential and nonresidential real estate, commercial real estate, residential construction, multi-family real estate, land, commercial business, consumer, home, home equity, auto, recreational vehicle, personal, furniture and appliance, agriculture, and term loans, as well as lines of credit, government guaranteed programs, and standby letters of credit. In addition, the company offers retirement planning, investment advisory, insurance, and wealth management and trust services. Further, it provides overdraft protection, re-order check, remote deposit capture, merchant, sweep, online and mobile banking, and bill pay services, as well as debit, credit, and gift cards. The company was founded in 1899 and is based in Wooster, Ohio.