Analyzing Banner (NASDAQ:BANR) and Citizens (NASDAQ:CIZN)

Citizens (NASDAQ:CIZN) and Banner (NASDAQ:BANR) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, valuation, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Citizens and Banner”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Citizens	$60.02 million	0.89	$1.85 million	$0.61	15.57
Banner	$745.98 million	3.30	$183.62 million	$4.78	14.93

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Citizens and Banner, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Citizens	0	0	0	0	0.00
Banner	0	3	3	0	2.50

Banner has a consensus target price of $67.00, suggesting a potential downside of 6.12%. Given Banner’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Banner is more favorable than Citizens.

Dividends

Citizens pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.7%. Banner pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Citizens pays out 104.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Banner pays out 40.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Profitability

This table compares Citizens and Banner’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Citizens	4.44%	7.23%	0.23%
Banner	20.28%	10.22%	1.10%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

9.7% of Citizens shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.3% of Banner shares are held by institutional investors. 8.9% of Citizens shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Banner shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Citizens has a beta of -0.02, suggesting that its share price is 102% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Banner has a beta of 1.07, suggesting that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Banner beats Citizens on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Citizens

Citizens Holding Company operates as the bank holding company for The Citizens Bank of Philadelphia that provides various commercial and personal banking products and services. It offers demand deposits; and savings and time deposit accounts. The company also provides secured and unsecured loans; mortgage loans; single and multi-family housing, farm, residential and commercial construction, and commercial real estate loans; commercial, industrial, and agricultural production loans; and consumer loans, as well as issues letters of credit. In addition, it offers personal and corporate trust services; credit life and title insurance; and online and mobile banking services. The company was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Philadelphia, Mississippi.

About Banner

Banner Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Banner Bank that engages in the provision of commercial banking and financial products and services to individuals, businesses, and public sector entities in the United States. It accepts various deposit instruments, including interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, regular savings accounts, and certificates of deposit, as well as treasury management services and retirement savings plans. The company also provides commercial real estate loans, including owner-occupied, investment properties, and multifamily residential real estate loans; construction, land, and land development loans; one- to four-family residential real estate lending; commercial business loans; agricultural loans; consumer and other loans, such as home equity lines of credit, automobile, and boat and recreational vehicle loans, as well as loans secured by deposit accounts; and small business administration loans. In addition, it provides electronic and digital banking services comprising debit cards and ATMs, internet banking, remote deposit, and mobile banking services. The company was founded in 1890 and is based in Walla Walla, Washington.