Contrasting Northfield Bancorp (NASDAQ:NFBK) & Greene County Bancorp (NASDAQ:GCBC)

Northfield Bancorp (NASDAQ:NFBK) and Greene County Bancorp (NASDAQ:GCBC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Northfield Bancorp and Greene County Bancorp”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Northfield Bancorp	$266.05 million	2.16	$800,000.00	$0.01	1,374.00
Greene County Bancorp	$132.94 million	2.92	$31.14 million	$2.14	10.66

Greene County Bancorp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Northfield Bancorp. Greene County Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Northfield Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Northfield Bancorp has a beta of 0.75, suggesting that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Greene County Bancorp has a beta of 0.39, suggesting that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Northfield Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Greene County Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Northfield Bancorp pays out 5,200.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Greene County Bancorp pays out 18.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Greene County Bancorp has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Northfield Bancorp and Greene County Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Northfield Bancorp	0.30%	5.91%	0.73%
Greene County Bancorp	26.03%	15.01%	1.19%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Northfield Bancorp and Greene County Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Northfield Bancorp	1	1	1	0	2.00
Greene County Bancorp	0	1	0	0	2.00

Northfield Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $14.33, suggesting a potential upside of 4.32%. Given Northfield Bancorp’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Northfield Bancorp is more favorable than Greene County Bancorp.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

65.5% of Northfield Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 13.4% of Greene County Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.0% of Northfield Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 59.2% of Greene County Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Greene County Bancorp beats Northfield Bancorp on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Northfield Bancorp

Northfield Bancorp, Inc. (Staten Island, NY) operates as the bank holding company for Northfield Bank that provides various banking products and services primarily to individuals and corporate customers. It accepts various deposits products, including certificates of deposit, passbook, statement, and money market savings accounts; transaction deposit accounts comprising negotiable orders of withdrawal accounts, and interest and non-interest-bearing checking accounts; and brokered deposits. The company also offers various loans comprising multifamily and other commercial real estate loans, construction and land loans, commercial and industrial loans, one-to-four family residential real estate loans, and home equity loans and lines of credit. In addition, it purchases various investment securities, such as mortgage-backed securities and corporate bonds; and deposits funds in other financial institutions, as well as holds mortgage loans, mortgage-backed securities, and other investments. Further, the company provides automated teller machines; telephone, internet, and mobile banking services; and ACH and wire transfers, cash management, positive pay, and remote deposit capture services. It operates full-service banking offices in Staten Island and Brooklyn, New York; and Hunterdon, Middlesex, Mercer, and Union counties, New Jersey. Northfield Bancorp, Inc. (Staten Island, NY) was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Woodbridge, New Jersey.

About Greene County Bancorp

Greene County Bancorp, Inc. operates as a holding company for The Bank of Greene County that provides various financial services in the United States. The company's deposit products include savings, NOW accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, non-interest bearing checking accounts, and individual retirement accounts. Its loan portfolio consists of residential, construction and land, and multifamily loans; commercial real estate mortgage loans; consumer loans, such as loans on new and used automobiles, personal loans, and home equity loans, as well as other consumer installment loans, including passbook loans, unsecured home improvement loans, recreational vehicle loans, and deposit account overdrafts; and commercial loans. The company was founded in 1889 and is based in Catskill, New York. Greene County Bancorp, Inc. is a subsidiary of Greene County Bancorp, MHC.