Head to Head Comparison: Pathfinder Bancorp (NASDAQ:PBHC) versus Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC)

Pathfinder Bancorp (NASDAQ:PBHC) and Flushing Financial (NASDAQ:FFIC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

26.7% of Pathfinder Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.1% of Flushing Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 22.4% of Pathfinder Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.7% of Flushing Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Pathfinder Bancorp and Flushing Financial”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pathfinder Bancorp	$46.98 million	1.44	-$1.93 million	($0.60)	-23.14
Flushing Financial	$238.93 million	2.28	$18.88 million	$1.00	16.11

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

Profitability

This table compares Pathfinder Bancorp and Flushing Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pathfinder Bancorp	-4.16%	-2.74%	-0.23%
Flushing Financial	3.86%	5.95%	0.48%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Pathfinder Bancorp and Flushing Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pathfinder Bancorp	1	0	0	0	1.00
Flushing Financial	0	4	0	0	2.00

Flushing Financial has a consensus price target of $16.80, indicating a potential upside of 4.29%. Given Flushing Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Flushing Financial is more favorable than Pathfinder Bancorp.

Volatility & Risk

Pathfinder Bancorp has a beta of 0.12, meaning that its stock price is 88% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Flushing Financial has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Pathfinder Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Flushing Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. Pathfinder Bancorp pays out -66.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Flushing Financial pays out 88.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Pathfinder Bancorp has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Summary

Flushing Financial beats Pathfinder Bancorp on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pathfinder Bancorp

Pathfinder Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for Pathfinder Bank that provides various banking and financial products and services in New York. The company's deposit products include checking, savings, and money market deposit accounts; certificates of deposit; and demand and time deposits. Its loan portfolio comprises commercial real estate, commercial, residential real estate, construction, and tax-exempt loans; home equity loans and junior liens; and consumer loans comprising automobile, recreational vehicles, and unsecured personal loans, as well as unsecured lines of credit and loans secured by deposit accounts. The company is also involved in the property, casualty, and life insurance brokerage business. It primarily serves individuals, families, small to mid-size businesses, and municipalities. The company was founded in 1859 and is headquartered in Oswego, New York.

About Flushing Financial

Flushing Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Flushing Bank that provides banking products and services primarily to consumers, businesses, and governmental units. It offers various deposit products, including checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, non-interest bearing demand accounts, NOW accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company also provides mortgage loans secured by multi-family residential, commercial real estate, one-to-four family mixed-use property, one-to-four family residential property, and commercial business loans; construction loans; small business administration loans and other small business loans; mortgage loan surrogates, such as mortgage-backed securities; and consumer loans, including overdraft lines of credit, as well as the United States government securities, corporate fixed-income securities, and other marketable securities. It operates full-service banking offices in Queens, Nassau, Suffolk, Kings, and New York counties, New York; and an internet branch under the iGObanking and BankPurely brands. Flushing Financial Corporation was founded in 1929 and is based in Uniondale, New York.