Reviewing Citizens Financial Services (CZFS) and Its Competitors

Citizens Financial Services (NASDAQ:CZFS) is one of 919 publicly-traded companies in the “Banks” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Citizens Financial Services to related companies based on the strength of its earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Citizens Financial Services and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Citizens Financial Services	23.90%	12.46%	1.39%
Citizens Financial Services Competitors	15.65%	9.43%	0.93%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Citizens Financial Services and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Citizens Financial Services	$173.51 million	$36.57 million	9.53
Citizens Financial Services Competitors	$9.95 billion	$2.42 billion	21.34

Citizens Financial Services’ peers have higher revenue and earnings than Citizens Financial Services. Citizens Financial Services is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

22.5% of Citizens Financial Services shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.8% of shares of all “Banks” companies are owned by institutional investors. 5.5% of Citizens Financial Services shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.7% of shares of all “Banks” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Citizens Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $2.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Citizens Financial Services pays out 22.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Banks” companies pay a dividend yield of 8.9% and pay out 28.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Citizens Financial Services and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Citizens Financial Services	0	1	1	0	2.50
Citizens Financial Services Competitors	7490	30232	27820	1480	2.35

As a group, “Banks” companies have a potential upside of 14.70%. Given Citizens Financial Services’ peers higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Citizens Financial Services has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Risk & Volatility

Citizens Financial Services has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Citizens Financial Services’ peers have a beta of 0.61, indicating that their average stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Citizens Financial Services peers beat Citizens Financial Services on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

Citizens Financial Services Company Profile

Citizens Financial Services, Inc., a bank holding company, provides various banking products and services for individual, business, governmental, and institutional customers. The company accepts various deposit products, such as checking, savings, and time deposit accounts. Its loan products include residential, commercial, and agricultural real estate loans; commercial and industrial loans; state and political subdivision loans; and consumer loans, as well as various other specialized financial services. The company also provides professional trust administration, investment management services, estate planning and administration, custody of securities, and individual retirement accounts. In addition, it offers brokerage and financial planning services, as well as assistance in various oil and gas leasing matters; and provides mutual funds, annuities, and health and life insurance products. Citizens Financial Services, Inc. was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Mansfield, Pennsylvania.