Critical Contrast: Citizens Financial Services (CZFS) vs. Its Rivals

Citizens Financial Services (NASDAQ:CZFS) is one of 920 publicly-traded companies in the “Banks” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Citizens Financial Services to related companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Citizens Financial Services and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Citizens Financial Services	0	1	1	0	2.50
Citizens Financial Services Competitors	7463	30185	27751	1456	2.35

As a group, “Banks” companies have a potential upside of 16.90%. Given Citizens Financial Services’ peers higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Citizens Financial Services has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Profitability

This table compares Citizens Financial Services and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Citizens Financial Services	23.31%	12.06%	1.33%
Citizens Financial Services Competitors	15.72%	9.53%	0.93%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

22.5% of Citizens Financial Services shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.8% of shares of all “Banks” companies are held by institutional investors. 5.5% of Citizens Financial Services shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.8% of shares of all “Banks” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Citizens Financial Services and its peers revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Citizens Financial Services	$173.51 million	$36.57 million	9.46
Citizens Financial Services Competitors	$296.67 billion	$2.41 billion	16.77

Citizens Financial Services’ peers have higher revenue and earnings than Citizens Financial Services. Citizens Financial Services is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Risk and Volatility

Citizens Financial Services has a beta of 0.37, meaning that its stock price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Citizens Financial Services’ peers have a beta of 0.61, meaning that their average stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Citizens Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $2.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Citizens Financial Services pays out 22.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Banks” companies pay a dividend yield of 9.4% and pay out 28.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

Citizens Financial Services peers beat Citizens Financial Services on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

Citizens Financial Services Company Profile

Citizens Financial Services, Inc., a bank holding company, provides various banking products and services for individual, business, governmental, and institutional customers. The company accepts various deposit products, such as checking, savings, and time deposit accounts. Its loan products include residential, commercial, and agricultural real estate loans; commercial and industrial loans; state and political subdivision loans; and consumer loans, as well as various other specialized financial services. The company also provides professional trust administration, investment management services, estate planning and administration, custody of securities, and individual retirement accounts. In addition, it offers brokerage and financial planning services, as well as assistance in various oil and gas leasing matters; and provides mutual funds, annuities, and health and life insurance products. Citizens Financial Services, Inc. was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Mansfield, Pennsylvania.