Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) and Citizens Bancshares (OTCMKTS:CZBS) Critical Survey

Citizens Bancshares (OTCMKTS:CZBS) and Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability and valuation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

81.8% of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.2% of Citizens Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Citizens Bancshares and Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Citizens Bancshares	0	0	0	0	0.00
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	0	5	2	0	2.29

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has a consensus price target of $31.90, indicating a potential downside of 8.67%. Given Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida is more favorable than Citizens Bancshares.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Citizens Bancshares and Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Citizens Bancshares	$44.68 million	1.79	$12.88 million	N/A	N/A
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	$935.52 million	3.65	$144.88 million	$1.60	21.83

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has higher revenue and earnings than Citizens Bancshares.

Profitability

This table compares Citizens Bancshares and Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Citizens Bancshares	N/A	N/A	N/A
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida	15.47%	7.07%	0.98%

Dividends

Citizens Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida pays out 47.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Risk and Volatility

Citizens Bancshares has a beta of 0.38, suggesting that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida beats Citizens Bancshares on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Citizens Bancshares

Citizens Bancshares Corporation operates as the holding company for Citizens Trust Bank that provides various commercial banking services to individual and corporate customers. The company offers checking and savings accounts; and demand and money market deposits. Its loan products include commercial, financial, and agricultural loans; loans secured by personal property, such as automobiles, marketable securities, and other titled recreational vehicles and motorcycles, as well as unsecured consumer debt; commercial real estate loans; single-family residential loans; and construction and development loans. The company also offers investment accounts and certificate of deposit account registry services. In addition, it provides merchant services, which include point of sale terminal, credit and debit card processing, electronic benefits transfer, gift card, and Internet shopping cart services; cash management services; and credit cards. Further, the company offers online and mobile banking, as well as check reorder services. Citizens Bancshares Corporation was founded in 1921 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

About Seacoast Banking Corporation 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.