Reviewing Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) and Nicolet Bankshares (NYSE:NIC)

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) and Nicolet Bankshares (NYSE:NIC) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Citizens Financial Group and Nicolet Bankshares, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Citizens Financial Group	0	3	17	2	2.95
Nicolet Bankshares	0	1	3	1	3.00

Citizens Financial Group currently has a consensus target price of $58.57, suggesting a potential downside of 4.53%. Nicolet Bankshares has a consensus target price of $155.33, suggesting a potential upside of 25.56%. Given Nicolet Bankshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Nicolet Bankshares is more favorable than Citizens Financial Group.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Citizens Financial Group and Nicolet Bankshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Citizens Financial Group	$12.36 billion	2.13	$1.51 billion	$3.57	17.18
Nicolet Bankshares	$520.63 million	3.52	$124.06 million	$9.34	13.25

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

94.9% of Citizens Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.1% of Nicolet Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Citizens Financial Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.2% of Nicolet Bankshares shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Citizens Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Nicolet Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Citizens Financial Group pays out 51.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nicolet Bankshares pays out 13.7% 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. Nicolet Bankshares has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Risk & Volatility

Citizens Financial Group has a beta of 0.72, suggesting that its stock price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nicolet Bankshares has a beta of 0.78, suggesting that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Citizens Financial Group and Nicolet Bankshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Citizens Financial Group	14.17%	7.48%	0.78%
Nicolet Bankshares	26.39%	12.08%	1.61%

Summary

Nicolet Bankshares beats Citizens Financial Group on 11 of the 18 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 Nicolet Bankshares

Nicolet Bankshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Nicolet National Bank that provides banking products and services for businesses and individuals in Wisconsin and Michigan. The company accepts checking, savings, and money market accounts; various certificates of deposit; and individual retirement accounts. It also offers commercial loans, including commercial, industrial, and business loans and lines of credit; commercial real estate loans; agricultural (AG) production and AG real estate loans; commercial real estate investment real estate loans; construction and land development loans; residential real estate loans, such as residential first lien and junior lien mortgages, home equity loans, lines of credit, and residential construction loans; and consumer loans. In addition, the company provides cash management, international banking, personal brokerage, safe deposit boxes, and trust and fiduciary services, as well as wealth management and retirement plan services. Further, it offers mortgage refinancing; online services, such as commercial, retail, and trust online banking; automated bill payment, mobile banking deposits and account access, and remote deposit capture services; and other services consisting of wire transfers, debit cards, credit cards, pre-paid gift cards, direct deposits, and official bank checks, as well as facilitates crop insurance products. The company was formerly known as Green Bay Financial Corporation and changed its name to Nicolet Bankshares, Inc. in March 2002. The company was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin.