Financial Review: Peapack-Gladstone Financial (NASDAQ:PGC) vs. BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) (NASDAQ:BCBP)

Peapack-Gladstone Financial (NASDAQ:PGC) and BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) (NASDAQ:BCBP) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, valuation, earnings and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Peapack-Gladstone Financial and BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ), as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Peapack-Gladstone Financial	0	2	3	0	2.60
BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ)	1	4	0	0	1.80

Peapack-Gladstone Financial currently has a consensus price target of $56.33, indicating a potential upside of 21.99%. BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) has a consensus price target of $8.95, indicating a potential downside of 2.40%. Given Peapack-Gladstone Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Peapack-Gladstone Financial is more favorable than BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ).

Dividends

Peapack-Gladstone Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Peapack-Gladstone Financial pays out 6.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) pays out -3.9% 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. BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Peapack-Gladstone Financial and BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ)”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Peapack-Gladstone Financial	$444.61 million	1.84	$37.33 million	$3.33	13.87
BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ)	$101.75 million	1.63	-$12.53 million	($8.24)	-1.11

Peapack-Gladstone Financial has higher revenue and earnings than BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ). BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Peapack-Gladstone Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

72.8% of Peapack-Gladstone Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 36.0% of BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.8% of Peapack-Gladstone Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.0% of BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) 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.

Profitability

This table compares Peapack-Gladstone Financial and BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ)’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Peapack-Gladstone Financial	12.69%	9.08%	0.77%
BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ)	-90.51%	-58.88%	-4.87%

Volatility & Risk

Peapack-Gladstone Financial has a beta of 0.74, meaning that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Peapack-Gladstone Financial beats BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Peapack-Gladstone Financial

Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corporation is a bank holding company whose principal subsidiary, Peapack-Gladstone Bank, provides commercial banking and wealth management services. The bank serves individuals, families, businesses and nonprofit organizations, with a focus on personalized banking and financial advice. Its services include deposits, lending, cash management and other banking solutions, as well as investment management, trust and fiduciary services, financial planning and private banking through its Peapack Private business.

About BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ)

BCB Bancorp, Inc. is the bank holding company for BCB Community Bank, a full-service community bank headquartered in Bayonne, New Jersey. The bank provides deposit products, residential and commercial real estate lending, commercial and industrial loans, consumer loans, and other banking services to individuals, families, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. BCB Community Bank serves customers through a branch network and digital banking channels in communities across New Jersey and parts of New York.