Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) & Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) Head-To-Head Analysis

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Citizens Financial Group	16.21%	8.31%	0.88%
Esquire Financial	29.96%	18.30%	2.30%

Risk & Volatility

Citizens Financial Group has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Esquire Financial has a beta of 0.39, suggesting that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Citizens Financial Group and Esquire Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Citizens Financial Group	0	1	19	0	2.95
Esquire Financial	0	1	2	1	3.00

Citizens Financial Group presently has a consensus price target of $70.88, indicating a potential upside of 4.95%. Esquire Financial has a consensus price target of $120.33, indicating a potential upside of 4.08%. Given Citizens Financial Group’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Citizens Financial Group is more favorable than Esquire Financial.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Citizens Financial Group and Esquire Financial”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Citizens Financial Group	$8.48 billion	3.37	$1.83 billion	$4.23	15.97
Esquire Financial	$153.26 million	6.52	$50.82 million	$5.95	19.43

Citizens Financial Group has higher revenue and earnings than Esquire Financial. Citizens Financial Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Esquire Financial, 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, 54.7% of Esquire Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Citizens Financial Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 18.0% of Esquire Financial shares are owned 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.

Dividends

Citizens Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Esquire Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Citizens Financial Group pays out 43.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Esquire Financial pays out 13.4% 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. Esquire Financial has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Summary

Esquire Financial 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 Esquire Financial

Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Esquire Bank, National Association that provides commercial banking products and services to legal industry and small businesses, and commercial and retail customers in the United States. The company offers checking, savings, money market, and time deposits, as well as certificates of deposit. It also provides commercial loans, such as short-term financing for inventory, receivables, the purchase of supplies, or other operating needs arising during the normal course of business, as well as loans to its qualified ISO customers; commercial lines of credit; consumer loans consisting of post-settlement consumer and structured settlement loans to plaintiffs and claimants, as well as loans to individuals for debt consolidation, medical expenses, living expenses, payment of outstanding bills, or other consumer needs; and real estate loans, such as multifamily, 1-4 family residential, commercial real estate, and construction loans, as well as merchant services. In addition, it offers cash management, cash sweep, online and mobile banking, individual retirement accounts, and working capital lines of credit. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Jericho, New York.