Comparing Hingham Institution for Savings (NASDAQ:HIFS) & Bank Of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Hingham Institution for Savings (NASDAQ:HIFS) and Bank Of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Hingham Institution for Savings and Bank Of Montreal, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hingham Institution for Savings	0	0	1	0	3.00
Bank Of Montreal	1	6	5	0	2.33

Bank Of Montreal has a consensus target price of $163.00, indicating a potential downside of 6.49%. Given Bank Of Montreal’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Bank Of Montreal is more favorable than Hingham Institution for Savings.

Profitability

This table compares Hingham Institution for Savings and Bank Of Montreal’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hingham Institution for Savings	25.94%	8.22%	0.88%
Bank Of Montreal	11.72%	13.60%	0.71%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Hingham Institution for Savings and Bank Of Montreal”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hingham Institution for Savings	$236.78 million	2.86	$54.55 million	$30.02	10.33
Bank Of Montreal	$38.50 billion	3.15	$6.22 billion	$8.86	19.67

Bank Of Montreal has higher revenue and earnings than Hingham Institution for Savings. Hingham Institution for Savings is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bank Of Montreal, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Hingham Institution for Savings has a beta of 0.83, indicating that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bank Of Montreal has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Hingham Institution for Savings pays an annual dividend of $2.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Bank Of Montreal pays an annual dividend of $4.93 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Hingham Institution for Savings pays out 8.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Bank Of Montreal pays out 55.6% 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 Montreal has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Bank Of Montreal is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

49.3% of Hingham Institution for Savings shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.8% of Bank Of Montreal shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Bank Of Montreal shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Bank Of Montreal beats Hingham Institution for Savings on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hingham Institution for Savings

Hingham Institution for Savings provides various financial products and services to individuals and small businesses in the United States. It offers savings, checking, money market, demand, and negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company provides commercial and residential real estate, construction, home equity, commercial, consumer, and mortgage loans. In addition, it offers ATMs, debit cards, and Internet-based banking services. The company offers its services through a network of offices in Boston; Washington, D.C.; and San Francisco Bay Area. Hingham Institution for Savings was incorporated in 1834 and is headquartered in Hingham, Massachusetts.

About Bank Of Montreal

Bank of Montreal provides diversified financial services primarily in North America. It operates through Canadian P&C, U.S P&C, BMO Wealth Management, and BMO Capital Markets segments. The company’s personal banking products and services include deposits, mortgages, home lending, consumer credit, small business lending, credit cards, cash management, financial and investment advice, and other banking services; and commercial banking products and services comprise various of financing options and treasury and payment solutions, as well as risk management products. It also offers investing, banking, and wealth management advisory; digital investing services; financial solutions for individuals, families, and businesses; provides investment management services to institutional, retail, and high net worth investors; and diversified insurance, and wealth and pension de-risking solutions. In addition, the company provides individual life, critical illness and annuity products, as well as segregated funds, and group creditor and travel insurance to customers; debt and equity capital-raising, loan origination and syndication, balance sheet management, treasury management, mergers and acquisitions advice, restructurings and recapitalizations, trade finance, and risk mitigation services, as well as a range of banking and other operating services. Further, the company offers research and access to financial markets for institutional, corporate and retail clients through an integrated suite of sales and trading solutions related to debt, foreign exchange, interest rates, credit, equities, securitization, and commodities; provides new product development and origination services, as well as risk management and advisory services for hedging strategies, including in interest rates, foreign exchange rates and commodities prices; and funding and liquidity management services. The company was founded in 1817 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.