Southern States Bancshares (NASDAQ:SSBK – Get Rating) and Bankwell Financial Group (NASDAQ:BWFG – Get Rating) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and risk.

Dividends

Southern States Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Bankwell Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Southern States Bancshares pays out 15.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Bankwell Financial Group pays out 16.8% 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. Bankwell Financial Group has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Bankwell Financial Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

48.1% of Southern States Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.5% of Bankwell Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 14.8% of Southern States Bancshares shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 28.0% of Bankwell Financial Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Profitability

This table compares Southern States Bancshares and Bankwell Financial Group's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Southern States Bancshares and Bankwell Financial Group's revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Southern States Bancshares and Bankwell Financial Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

Southern States Bancshares currently has a consensus price target of $26.50, indicating a potential downside of 7.67%. Given Southern States Bancshares' higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Southern States Bancshares is more favorable than Bankwell Financial Group.

Summary

Bankwell Financial Group beats Southern States Bancshares on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Southern States Bancshares

(Get Rating)

Southern States Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Southern States Bank that provides community banking services to businesses and individuals. It offers various deposit products, such as savings, money market, and noninterest-bearing demand accounts; certificates of deposit; and time deposits. The company also provides real estate loan products, which include loans for real estate construction and development, residential mortgages, and commercial real estate mortgage loans; commercial and industrial loans; and direct consumer installment loans, overdrafts, and other revolving credit loans. In addition, it offers online and mobile banking, and ATM services. The company operates 15 offices in Alabama and Georgia, as well as a loan production office in Atlanta, Georgia. Southern States Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Anniston, Alabama.

About Bankwell Financial Group

(Get Rating)

Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Bankwell Bank that provides various banking services for individual and commercial customers. It offers various traditional depository products, including checking, savings, money market, and certificates of deposit. The company also provides first mortgage loans secured by one-to-four family owner occupied residential properties for personal use; home equity loans and home equity lines of credit secured by owner occupied one-to-four family residential properties; loans secured by commercial real estate, multi-family dwellings, and investor-owned one-to-four family dwellings; commercial construction loans for commercial development projects, including apartment buildings and condominiums, as well as office buildings, retail, and other income producing properties; land loans; commercial business loans secured by assignments of corporate assets and personal guarantees of the business owners; loans secured by savings or certificate accounts and automobiles; and unsecured personal loans and overdraft lines of credit. It operates branches in New Canaan, Stamford, Fairfield, Wilton, Westport, Darien, Norwalk, and Hamden, Connecticut. The company was formerly known as BNC Financial Group, Inc. and changed its name to Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. in September 2013. Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in New Canaan, Connecticut.

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