Erste Group Bank (OTCMKTS:EBKDY – Get Free Report) and Bank of the James Financial Group (NASDAQ:BOTJ – Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
0.4% of Erste Group Bank shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 18.5% of Bank of the James Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. 11.9% of Bank of the James Financial Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current ratings for Erste Group Bank and Bank of the James Financial Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Erste Group Bank | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3.00 |
| Bank of the James Financial Group | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4.00 |
Dividends
Erste Group Bank pays an annual dividend of $0.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Bank of the James Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Erste Group Bank pays out 5.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Bank of the James Financial Group pays out 15.8% 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. Bank of the James Financial Group has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Bank of the James Financial Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Erste Group Bank and Bank of the James Financial Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Erste Group Bank | $23.77 billion | 2.04 | $3.97 billion | $5.22 | 11.93 |
| Bank of the James Financial Group | $50.86 million | 2.48 | $9.02 million | $2.53 | 10.99 |
Erste Group Bank has higher revenue and earnings than Bank of the James Financial Group. Bank of the James Financial Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Erste Group Bank, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Erste Group Bank and Bank of the James Financial Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Erste Group Bank | 18.39% | 10.22% | 0.94% |
| Bank of the James Financial Group | 17.72% | 14.30% | 1.10% |
Risk and Volatility
Erste Group Bank has a beta of 0.92, meaning that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bank of the James Financial Group has a beta of 0.19, meaning that its stock price is 81% less volatile than the S&P 500.
About Erste Group Bank
Erste Group Bank AG provides a range of banking and other financial services to retail, corporate, and public sector customers. The company operates through Retail, Corporates, Group Markets, Asset/Liability Management & Local Corporate Center, Savings Banks, and Group Corporate Center segments. It provides mortgage and consumer loans, investment products, current accounts, savings products, and credit cards, as well as cross selling products, such as leasing, insurance, and building society products. The company also offers factoring and accounts receivable purchasing; investment, acquisition and leveraged, project, and commercial real estate finance; interest rate and currency hedging, letters of credit, documentary collections, and guarantees; account management, payments, digital-banking, cash logistics, and payment factory and cash pooling services; documentary collection, equity interests and investments, revolving export credits lines, letters of credit, customer financing, and export guarantee; and loan syndication, and debt and equity capital market services. In addition, it provides cash management, trade finance, customer referral, markets execution, debt capital markets, and custody and brokerage services. Further, the company offers corporate finance; portfolio management; trading and market; trade execution, market making, and short-term liquidity management; and asset/liability management services, as well as working capital and bridge loans. It operates in Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, and internationally. The company was founded in 1819 and is headquartered in Vienna, Austria.
About Bank of the James Financial Group
Bank of the James Financial Group, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Bank of the James that provides general retail and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses, associations and organizations, and governmental authorities in Virginia, the United States. It offers checking, savings, individual retirement, and health care saving accounts, as well as other time deposits, including money market accounts and certificates of deposit. The company also provides loans to small- and medium-sized businesses for the purchases of equipment, facilities upgrades, inventory acquisition, and various working capital purposes; commercial and residential construction and development loans; commercial real estate mortgage loans; residential mortgage loans; and secured and unsecured consumer loans, such as lines of credit and overdraft lines of credit, as well as personal, automobile, installment, demand, and home equity loans for personal, family, or household purposes. In addition, it offers other banking services, including safe deposit boxes, traveler's checks, direct deposit of payroll and social security checks, automatic drafts for various accounts, treasury management, and credit card merchant services. Further, the company provides mortgage banking; investment advisory services; securities brokerage and investment services; and telephone and internet banking services comprising online bill pay, as well as acts as an agent for insurance and annuity products. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Lynchburg, Virginia.
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