Analyzing Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) & Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania (NASDAQ:UVSP)

Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) and Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania (NASDAQ:UVSP) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Kearny Financial and Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kearny Financial	1	0	3	0	2.50
Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania	0	3	0	1	2.50

Kearny Financial presently has a consensus target price of $10.50, indicating a potential upside of 13.44%. Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania has a consensus target price of $46.00, indicating a potential upside of 12.86%. Given Kearny Financial’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Kearny Financial is more favorable than Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Kearny Financial and Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kearny Financial	$347.14 million	1.73	$36.26 million	$0.58	15.96
Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania	$518.35 million	2.13	$90.76 million	$3.35	12.17

Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania has higher revenue and earnings than Kearny Financial. Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Kearny Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

71.0% of Kearny Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.1% of Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania shares are held by institutional investors. 7.7% of Kearny Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Kearny Financial has a beta of 0.63, suggesting that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Kearny Financial and Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kearny Financial	10.57%	5.01%	0.50%
Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania	17.95%	9.93%	1.14%

Dividends

Kearny Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Kearny Financial pays out 75.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania pays out 27.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Summary

Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania beats Kearny Financial on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kearny Financial

Kearny Financial Corp. is the holding company for Kearny Bank, a community-focused financial institution headquartered in Fairfield, New Jersey. The bank provides a range of banking and financial services to individuals, families, businesses and nonprofit organizations. Kearny Bank’s products and services include checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, commercial real estate financing, business loans, construction loans and consumer lending.

About Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania

Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania is a financial services holding company headquartered in Souderton, Pennsylvania. Its history dates to 1876, when the community bank that became Univest was established in the area. Through Univest Bank and Trust Co. and other subsidiaries, the company provides commercial and consumer banking, mortgage lending, wealth management and trust services, and insurance. Its offerings serve individuals, businesses, nonprofits, and other organizations. Univest primarily serves southeastern Pennsylvania, including communities in the greater Philadelphia region and surrounding areas.