Provident Bancorp (PVBC) Competitors

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) and Provident Bancorp (NASDAQ:PVBC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, community ranking, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, media sentiment, profitability and valuation.

Which has more volatility & risk, HFWA or PVBC?

Heritage Financial has a beta of 0.55, suggesting that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Provident Bancorp has a beta of 0.28, suggesting that its stock price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, HFWA or PVBC?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Heritage Financial	$225.80M	3.44	$43.26M	$1.48	15.38
Provident Bancorp	$55.61M	3.77	$7.27M	$0.26	45.38

Is HFWA or PVBC more profitable?

Heritage Financial has a net margin of 13.64% compared to Provident Bancorp's net margin of 7.62%. Heritage Financial's return on equity of 7.17% beat Provident Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Heritage Financial	13.64%	7.17%	0.87%
Provident Bancorp	7.62%	3.22%	0.44%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor HFWA or PVBC?

Heritage Financial received 236 more outperform votes than Provident Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 57.93% of users gave Heritage Financial an outperform vote while only 56.82% of users gave Provident Bancorp an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Heritage Financial	Outperform Votes 336 57.93%	Underperform Votes 244 42.07%
Provident Bancorp	Outperform Votes 100 56.82%	Underperform Votes 76 43.18%

Does the media prefer HFWA or PVBC?

In the previous week, Heritage Financial and Heritage Financial both had 2 articles in the media. Heritage Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.80 beat Provident Bancorp's score of 0.92 indicating that Heritage Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Heritage Financial	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Provident Bancorp	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in HFWA or PVBC?

78.3% of Heritage Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.6% of Provident Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.8% of Heritage Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.6% of Provident Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer HFWA or PVBC?

Heritage Financial currently has a consensus price target of $27.67, suggesting a potential upside of 21.56%. Provident Bancorp has a consensus price target of $12.50, suggesting a potential upside of 5.93%. Given Heritage Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Heritage Financial is more favorable than Provident Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Heritage Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
Provident Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Is HFWA or PVBC a better dividend stock?

Heritage Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Provident Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Heritage Financial pays out 64.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Provident Bancorp pays out 15.4% 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. Heritage Financial has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Heritage Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Heritage Financial beats Provident Bancorp on 16 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.