Head to Head Comparison: CB Financial Services (NASDAQ:CBFV) vs. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF)

CB Financial Services (NASDAQ:CBFV) and Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for CB Financial Services and Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CB Financial Services	0	2	0	0	2.00
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	0	3	2	0	2.40

CB Financial Services currently has a consensus price target of $26.00, indicating a potential downside of 16.16%. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida has a consensus price target of $29.40, indicating a potential upside of 1.00%. Given Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida is more favorable than CB Financial Services.

Risk and Volatility

CB Financial Services has a beta of 0.6, meaning that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

CB Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. CB Financial Services pays out 41.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida pays out 50.3% 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. CB Financial Services is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

33.1% of CB Financial Services shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.8% of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida shares are held by institutional investors. 9.4% of CB Financial Services shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares CB Financial Services and Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CB Financial Services	15.43%	7.45%	0.70%
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	14.95%	5.91%	0.85%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares CB Financial Services and Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CB Financial Services	$81.62 million	1.95	$12.59 million	$2.39	12.97
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	$808.99 million	3.07	$120.99 million	$1.43	20.36

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida has higher revenue and earnings than CB Financial Services. CB Financial Services is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida beats CB Financial Services on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CB Financial Services

CB Financial Services, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Community Bank that provides various banking products and services for individuals and businesses in southwestern Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. The company's primary deposit products include demand deposits, NOW accounts, money market accounts, and savings accounts, as well as time deposit products. Its loan products comprise residential real estate loans, such as one- to four-family mortgage loans, home equity installment loans, and home equity lines of credit; commercial real estate loans that are secured primarily by improved properties, such as retail facilities, office buildings, and other non-residential buildings; construction loans to individuals to finance the construction of residential dwellings, as well as for the construction of commercial properties, including hotels, apartment buildings, housing developments, and owner-occupied properties used for businesses; commercial and industrial loans, and lines of credit; consumer loans consisting of indirect auto loans, secured and unsecured loans, and lines of credit; and other loans. In addition, the company conducts insurance agency activities by offering property and casualty, commercial liability, surety, and other insurance products. The company was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Carmichaels, Pennsylvania.

About Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida

Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida is a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of integrated financial services. It provides banking and investment services to businesses and consumers, including personal and business deposit products, Internet and mobile banking, personal, commercial and mortgage loans, wealth management services, and treasury management solutions. The company was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Stuart, FL.