Head to Head Comparison: TriCo Bancshares (NASDAQ:TCBK) and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (NYSE:SMFG)

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (NYSE:SMFG) and TriCo Bancshares (NASDAQ:TCBK) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and TriCo Bancshares, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group	1	0	1	0	2.00
TriCo Bancshares	0	5	2	0	2.29

TriCo Bancshares has a consensus target price of $55.30, suggesting a potential upside of 8.92%. Given TriCo Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe TriCo Bancshares is more favorable than Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and TriCo Bancshares”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group	$71.68 billion	2.19	$7.84 billion	$1.44	17.17
TriCo Bancshares	$429.22 million	3.78	$121.56 million	$4.17	12.18

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

Volatility & Risk

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group has a beta of 0.44, suggesting that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TriCo Bancshares has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

3.8% of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 59.1% of TriCo Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.9% of TriCo Bancshares shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and TriCo Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group	16.24%	10.65%	0.56%
TriCo Bancshares	24.67%	10.23%	1.37%

Dividends

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $0.47 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. TriCo Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group pays out 32.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. TriCo Bancshares pays out 34.5% 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. TriCo Bancshares has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years. TriCo Bancshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

TriCo Bancshares beats Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides banking, leasing, securities, credit card, and consumer finance services in Japan, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Oceania. It operates through Wholesale Business Unit, Retail Business Unit, Global Business Unit, and Global Markets Business Unit segments. The company was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About TriCo Bancshares

TriCo Bancshares operates as a bank holding company for Tri Counties Bank that provides commercial banking services to individual and corporate customers. The company accepts demand, savings, and time deposits. It also provides small business loans; real estate mortgage loans, such as residential and commercial loans; consumer loans; mortgage, auto, other vehicle, and personal loans; commercial loans, including agricultural loans; and real estate construction loans. In addition, the company offers treasury management services; credit and debit cards; and other customary banking services, including safe deposit boxes; and independent financial and broker-dealer services. Further, it provides checking, saving, and money market accounts, as well as individual retirement accounts; equipment financing; certificate of deposit account registry service; certificated of deposit; and IntraFi cash service. TriCo Bancshares was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Chico, California.