Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) & Ballston Spa Bancorp (OTCMKTS:BSPA) Critical Contrast

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) and Ballston Spa Bancorp (OTCMKTS:BSPA) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Citizens Financial Group and Ballston Spa Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Citizens Financial Group	0	1	19	0	2.95
Ballston Spa Bancorp	0	0	0	0	0.00

Citizens Financial Group presently has a consensus price target of $70.88, indicating a potential upside of 10.16%. Given Citizens Financial Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Citizens Financial Group is more favorable than Ballston Spa Bancorp.

Risk and Volatility

Citizens Financial Group has a beta of 0.7, suggesting that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ballston Spa Bancorp has a beta of -0.15, suggesting that its stock price is 115% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Citizens Financial Group	16.21%	8.31%	0.88%
Ballston Spa Bancorp	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Citizens Financial Group and Ballston Spa Bancorp”s gross 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	2.27	$1.83 billion	$4.23	15.21
Ballston Spa Bancorp	$36.16 million	1.53	$4.78 million	N/A	N/A

Citizens Financial Group has higher revenue and earnings than Ballston Spa Bancorp.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

94.9% of Citizens Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.4% of Ballston Spa Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Citizens 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.

Dividends

Citizens Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Ballston Spa Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Citizens Financial Group pays out 43.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

Citizens Financial Group beats Ballston Spa Bancorp on 13 of the 14 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 Ballston Spa Bancorp

Ballston Spa Bancorp, Inc. operates as a holding company for Ballston Spa National Bank that provides a range of banking, financing, fiduciary, brokerage, and other financial services to corporate, municipal, and individual customers in the United States. It offers checking, money market, savings, health savings, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit; loan products, such as mortgage and home construction, improvement, and equity loans, auto, boat, RV, personal, commercial, and small business loans, as well as lines of credit and government programs; and debits and credit cards. The company also provides personal investment services, which include annuities, college savings plans, mutual funds, and life and long term care insurance products; retirement plans; college planning services; investment and asset management; trusteeship; estate settlement; special needs and disability trusts; and wealth management services. In addition, the company offers treasury management services; and merchant and payment processing services, as well as online and mobile banking, and digital payments. The company was founded in 1838 and is based in Ballston Spa, New York.