Head to Head Review: SR Bancorp (NASDAQ:SRBK) vs. Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG)

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) and SR Bancorp (NASDAQ:SRBK) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, profitability, valuation and institutional ownership.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Citizens Financial Group and SR Bancorp”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Citizens Financial Group	$12.06 billion	2.20	$1.83 billion	$3.87	16.11
SR Bancorp	$48.54 million	2.82	$5.14 million	$0.36	45.56

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Citizens Financial Group and SR Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Citizens Financial Group	0	2	18	1	2.95
SR Bancorp	0	2	0	0	2.00

Citizens Financial Group presently has a consensus target price of $68.77, suggesting a potential upside of 10.30%. SR Bancorp has a consensus target price of $16.00, suggesting a potential downside of 2.44%. Given Citizens Financial Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Citizens Financial Group is more favorable than SR Bancorp.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

94.9% of Citizens Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.7% of SR Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Citizens Financial Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.8% of SR Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Citizens Financial Group has a beta of 0.72, indicating that its stock price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SR Bancorp has a beta of 0.53, indicating that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Citizens Financial Group and SR Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Citizens Financial Group	15.19%	7.81%	0.83%
SR Bancorp	5.82%	1.27%	0.22%

Dividends

Citizens Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. SR Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Citizens Financial Group pays out 47.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SR Bancorp pays out 55.6% 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. Citizens Financial Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Citizens Financial Group beats SR Bancorp on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Citizens Financial Group

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. operates as the bank holding company that provides retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, corporations, and institutions in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Consumer Banking and Commercial Banking. The Consumer Banking segment offers deposit products, mortgage and home equity lending products, credit cards, business loans, wealth management, and investment services; and auto, education, and point-of-sale finance loans, as well as digital deposit products. This segment serves its customers through telephone service centers, as well as through its online and mobile platforms. The Commercial Banking segment provides various financial products and solutions, including lending and leasing, deposit and treasury management services, foreign exchange, and interest rate and commodity risk management solutions, as well as syndicated loans, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and debt and equity capital markets services. This segment serves corporate banking, healthcare, technology, asset finance, franchise finance, leasing, asset-based lending, commercial real estate, mid-corporate, and private equity sponsor industries. The company was formerly known as RBS Citizens Financial Group, Inc. and changed its name to Citizens Financial Group, Inc. in April 2014. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1828 and is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island.

About SR Bancorp

SR Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Somerset Regal Bank that provides customary retail and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses, and local municipalities in the communities of Somerset, Middlesex, Hunterdon, and Essex counties in New Jersey. It offers deposit instruments, including noninterest-bearing demand deposits, interest-bearing demand accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company also provides loans comprising one- to four family-residential mortgage loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, unsecured personal loans, and rehabilitation loans; and bill payment services. In addition, it is involved in the investment activities. The company was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Bound Brook, New Jersey.