Avidia Bancorp (NYSE:AVBC) & Southside Bancshares (NYSE:SBSI) Head to Head Comparison

Avidia Bancorp (NYSE:AVBC) and Southside Bancshares (NYSE:SBSI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability and earnings.

Dividends

Avidia Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Southside Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. Avidia Bancorp pays out 25.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Southside Bancshares pays out 58.3% 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. Southside Bancshares has increased its dividend for 30 consecutive years. Southside Bancshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Avidia Bancorp and Southside Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Avidia Bancorp	1	1	1	0	2.00
Southside Bancshares	0	6	0	0	2.00

Avidia Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $26.00, suggesting a potential upside of 18.80%. Southside Bancshares has a consensus price target of $34.75, suggesting a potential upside of 15.27%. Given Avidia Bancorp’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Avidia Bancorp is more favorable than Southside Bancshares.

Profitability

This table compares Avidia Bancorp and Southside Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Avidia Bancorp	11.51%	4.62%	0.63%
Southside Bancshares	16.70%	11.16%	1.11%

Volatility & Risk

Avidia Bancorp has a beta of -0.44, indicating that its share price is 144% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southside Bancshares has a beta of 0.61, indicating that its share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Avidia Bancorp and Southside Bancshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Avidia Bancorp	$147.61 million	2.96	-$3.29 million	$0.95	23.04
Southside Bancshares	$419.03 million	2.14	$69.18 million	$2.54	11.87

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

55.7% of Southside Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.4% of Avidia Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.1% of Southside Bancshares shares are owned by company 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.

Summary

Southside Bancshares beats Avidia Bancorp on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Avidia Bancorp

Avidia Bancorp Inc. is a chartered stock savings bank. It operates full-service banking offices principally in western Middlesex County and eastern Worcester County, in Massachusetts. Avidia Bancorp Inc. is based in HUDSON, Mass.

About Southside Bancshares

Southside Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Southside Bank that provides a range of financial services to individuals, businesses, municipal entities, and nonprofit organizations. Its deposit products include savings, money market, and interest and noninterest bearing checking accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company’s loan portfolio comprises consumer loans that include 1-4 family residential loans, home equity loans, home improvement loans, automobile loans, and other consumer related loans; commercial loans, such as short-term working capital loans for inventory and accounts receivable, short and medium-term loans for equipment or other business capital expansion, commercial real estate loans, and municipal loans; and construction loans for 1-4 family residential and commercial real estate. It also offers wealth management and trust services consisting of investment management, administration, revocable and testamentary trusts, and custodian services for individuals, partnerships, and corporations; safe deposit services; and brokerage services. As of December 31, 2021, the company operated through 56 banking facilities and 73 ATMs/ITMs. Southside Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Tyler, Texas.