Head-To-Head Comparison: BOK Financial (NASDAQ:BOKF) vs. Southside Bancshares (NYSE:SBSI)

Southside Bancshares (NYSE:SBSI) and BOK Financial (NASDAQ:BOKF) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Volatility & Risk

Southside Bancshares has a beta of 0.64, meaning that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BOK Financial has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Southside Bancshares and BOK Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Southside Bancshares	15.61%	10.72%	1.06%
BOK Financial	17.10%	9.37%	1.09%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Southside Bancshares and BOK Financial”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Southside Bancshares	$419.03 million	2.38	$69.22 million	$2.29	14.47
BOK Financial	$3.38 billion	2.51	$577.99 million	$9.16	14.65

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

55.7% of Southside Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 34.4% of BOK Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 6.0% of Southside Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 60.1% of BOK Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Southside Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. BOK Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Southside Bancshares pays out 62.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. BOK Financial pays out 27.5% 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 raised its dividend for 30 consecutive years and BOK Financial has raised its dividend for 20 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 summary of current ratings and price targets for Southside Bancshares and BOK Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Southside Bancshares	0	1	0	0	2.00
BOK Financial	0	8	3	1	2.42

BOK Financial has a consensus price target of $129.33, suggesting a potential downside of 3.64%. Given BOK Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe BOK Financial is more favorable than Southside Bancshares.

Summary

BOK Financial beats Southside Bancshares on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About BOK Financial

BOK Financial Corporation operates as the financial holding company for BOKF, NA that provides various financial products and services in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Northwest Arkansas, Colorado, Arizona, and Kansas/Missouri. It operates through three segments: Commercial Banking, Consumer Banking, and Wealth Management. The Commercial Banking segment offers lending, treasury, cash management, and customer commodity risk management products for small businesses, middle market, and larger commercial customers, as well as operates TransFund electronic funds transfer network. The Consumer Banking segment engages in the provision of retail lending and deposit services to small business customers through retail branch network; and mortgage loan origination and servicing activities. The Wealth Management segment offers fiduciary, private bank, insurance, and investment advisory services; and brokerage and trading services primarily related to providing liquidity to the mortgage markets through trading of U.S. government agency mortgage-backed securities and related derivative contracts, as well as underwrites state and municipal securities. The company also provides commercial loans, such as loans for working capital, facilities acquisition or expansion, purchases of equipment, and other needs of commercial customers; and service, healthcare, manufacturing, wholesale/retail, energy, and other sector loans. In addition, it offers commercial real estate loans for the construction of buildings or other improvements to real estate and property held by borrowers for investment purposes; residential mortgage and personal loans; and automated teller machine, call center, and Internet and mobile banking services. The company was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.