Reviewing Nicolet Bankshares (NYSE:NIC) and Flagstar Bank, National Association (NYSE:FLG)

Nicolet Bankshares (NYSE:NIC) and Flagstar Bank, National Association (NYSE:FLG) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Nicolet Bankshares and Flagstar Bank, National Association, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nicolet Bankshares	0	1	3	0	2.75
Flagstar Bank, National Association	2	5	5	0	2.25

Nicolet Bankshares currently has a consensus target price of $155.33, suggesting a potential upside of 18.28%. Flagstar Bank, National Association has a consensus target price of $14.14, suggesting a potential upside of 4.57%. Given Nicolet Bankshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Nicolet Bankshares is more favorable than Flagstar Bank, National Association.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

43.1% of Nicolet Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.9% of Flagstar Bank, National Association shares are owned by institutional investors. 16.4% of Nicolet Bankshares shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.4% of Flagstar Bank, National Association shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Nicolet Bankshares and Flagstar Bank, National Association’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nicolet Bankshares	26.39%	12.08%	1.61%
Flagstar Bank, National Association	-7.06%	-3.80%	-0.30%

Risk & Volatility

Nicolet Bankshares has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Flagstar Bank, National Association has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Nicolet Bankshares and Flagstar Bank, National Association”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nicolet Bankshares	$520.63 million	3.73	$124.06 million	$9.34	14.06
Flagstar Bank, National Association	$6.35 billion	0.88	-$1.12 billion	($0.97)	-13.94

Nicolet Bankshares has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Flagstar Bank, National Association. Flagstar Bank, National Association is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nicolet Bankshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Nicolet Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Flagstar Bank, National Association pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Nicolet Bankshares pays out 13.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Flagstar Bank, National Association pays out -4.1% 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. Nicolet Bankshares has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Nicolet Bankshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Nicolet Bankshares beats Flagstar Bank, National Association on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nicolet Bankshares

Nicolet Bankshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Nicolet National Bank that provides banking products and services for businesses and individuals in Wisconsin and Michigan. The company accepts checking, savings, and money market accounts; various certificates of deposit; and individual retirement accounts. It also offers commercial loans, including commercial, industrial, and business loans and lines of credit; commercial real estate loans; agricultural (AG) production and AG real estate loans; commercial real estate investment real estate loans; construction and land development loans; residential real estate loans, such as residential first lien and junior lien mortgages, home equity loans, lines of credit, and residential construction loans; and consumer loans. In addition, the company provides cash management, international banking, personal brokerage, safe deposit boxes, and trust and fiduciary services, as well as wealth management and retirement plan services. Further, it offers mortgage refinancing; online services, such as commercial, retail, and trust online banking; automated bill payment, mobile banking deposits and account access, and remote deposit capture services; and other services consisting of wire transfers, debit cards, credit cards, pre-paid gift cards, direct deposits, and official bank checks, as well as facilitates crop insurance products. The company was formerly known as Green Bay Financial Corporation and changed its name to Nicolet Bankshares, Inc. in March 2002. The company was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

About Flagstar Bank, National Association

Flagstar Financial, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Flagstar Bank, N.A. that provides banking products and services in the United States. The company’s deposit products include interest-bearing checking and money market, savings, non-interest-bearing, and retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. Its loan products comprise multi-family loans; commercial real estate loans; acquisition, development, and construction loans; commercial and industrial loans; one-to-four family loans; specialty finance loans and leases; warehouse loans; and other loans, such as home equity lines of credit, boat and recreational vehicle indirect lending, point of sale consumer loans, and other consumer loans, including overdraft loans. The company offers cash management products; non-deposit investment and insurance products; and online banking, mobile banking, and bank-by-phone services. It primarily serves individuals, small and mid-size businesses, and professional associations. The company was formerly known as New York Community Bancorp, Inc. and changed its name to Flagstar Financial, Inc. in October 2024. Flagstar Financial, Inc. was founded in 1859 and is headquartered in Hicksville, New York.