Analyzing ConnectOne Bancorp (NASDAQ:CNOB) and Citizens (NASDAQ:CIZN)

ConnectOne Bancorp (NASDAQ:CNOB) and Citizens (NASDAQ:CIZN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, risk, dividends and profitability.

Dividends

ConnectOne Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.78 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Citizens pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. ConnectOne Bancorp pays out 27.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Citizens pays out 4.0% 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. ConnectOne Bancorp has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years and Citizens has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. ConnectOne Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for ConnectOne Bancorp and Citizens, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ConnectOne Bancorp	0	0	5	1	3.17
Citizens	0	1	5	0	2.83

ConnectOne Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $35.75, suggesting a potential upside of 8.79%. Citizens has a consensus price target of $16.83, suggesting a potential upside of 72.65%. Given Citizens’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Citizens is more favorable than ConnectOne Bancorp.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares ConnectOne Bancorp and Citizens”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ConnectOne Bancorp	$679.93 million	2.43	$80.44 million	$2.86	11.49
Citizens	$40.95 million	1.36	$5.49 million	$2.02	4.83

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

67.7% of ConnectOne Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.7% of Citizens shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.2% of ConnectOne Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 8.9% of Citizens shares are owned by 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.

Volatility and Risk

ConnectOne Bancorp has a beta of 1.04, indicating that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Citizens has a beta of 0.13, indicating that its share price is 87% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares ConnectOne Bancorp and Citizens’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ConnectOne Bancorp	18.97%	11.96%	1.24%
Citizens	7.00%	11.28%	0.37%

Summary

ConnectOne Bancorp beats Citizens on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ConnectOne Bancorp

ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. is a bank holding company whose principal subsidiary is ConnectOne Bank. The bank provides commercial and consumer banking services to businesses, professionals, and individuals, including deposit accounts, business and personal loans, and cash-management and digital banking services. Its lending activities include commercial real estate and commercial and industrial financing, alongside residential mortgage and consumer lending. ConnectOne also offers treasury-management services to help business clients manage payments, liquidity, and other financial operations.

About Citizens

Citizens Holding Company was a bank holding company for Citizens Bank, a community banking institution headquartered in Philadelphia, Mississippi. The bank served individuals, businesses and public-sector customers through traditional banking products and services. Its offerings included checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, consumer and residential mortgage loans, commercial and agricultural lending, online banking and other deposit and credit services. Citizens Bank operated primarily in Mississippi, with a branch network focused on communities in the state’s east-central region.