Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) vs. Park National (NYSE:PRK) Head-To-Head Comparison

Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) and Park National (NYSE:PRK) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Eastern Bankshares and Park National’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eastern Bankshares	25.12%	8.71%	1.24%
Park National	23.46%	12.31%	1.50%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Eastern Bankshares and Park National”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Eastern Bankshares	$1.33 billion	3.64	$88.22 million	$1.76	12.01
Park National	$623.80 million	5.16	$151.42 million	$11.17	15.94

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

71.7% of Eastern Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.7% of Park National shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Eastern Bankshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of Park National shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Eastern Bankshares and Park National, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eastern Bankshares	0	3	6	0	2.67
Park National	0	5	0	0	2.00

Eastern Bankshares currently has a consensus price target of $24.86, indicating a potential upside of 17.58%. Park National has a consensus price target of $200.50, indicating a potential upside of 12.62%. Given Eastern Bankshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Eastern Bankshares is more favorable than Park National.

Risk and Volatility

Eastern Bankshares has a beta of 0.7, indicating that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Park National has a beta of 0.72, indicating that its stock price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Eastern Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Park National pays an annual dividend of $4.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Eastern Bankshares pays out 34.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Park National pays out 39.4% 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 and Park National has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years. Eastern Bankshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Park National beats Eastern Bankshares on 9 of the 17 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 Park National

Park National Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Park National Bank that provides commercial banking and trust services in small and medium population areas. The company offers deposits for demand, savings, and time accounts; trust and wealth management services; cash management services; safe deposit operations; electronic funds transfers; Internet and mobile banking solutions with bill pay service; credit cards; and various additional banking-related services. It also provides commercial loans, including financing for industrial and commercial properties, financing for equipment, inventory and accounts receivable, acquisition financing, and commercial leasing, as well as for consumer finance companies; commercial real estate loans comprising mortgage loans to developers and owners of commercial real estate; originates financing leases primarily for the purchase of commercial vehicles, operating/manufacturing equipment, and municipal vehicles/equipment; consumer loans, such as automobile loans; consumer finance services; home equity lines of credit; and residential real estate and construction loans, as well as installment loans and commercial loans. In addition, the company offers aircraft financing services; and ParkDirect, a personal banking application. Park National Corporation was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Newark, Ohio.