First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) and Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) Financial Comparison

First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) and Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends and risk.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares First Citizens BancShares and Dime Community Bancshares”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Citizens BancShares	$14.51 billion	1.65	$2.21 billion	$173.88	11.91
Dime Community Bancshares	$473.00 million	3.73	$110.68 million	$2.66	15.05

First Citizens BancShares has higher revenue and earnings than Dime Community Bancshares. First Citizens BancShares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Dime Community Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares First Citizens BancShares and Dime Community Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Citizens BancShares	15.62%	11.48%	1.03%
Dime Community Bancshares	15.15%	9.12%	0.83%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for First Citizens BancShares and Dime Community Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Citizens BancShares	0	10	2	1	2.31
Dime Community Bancshares	0	2	3	1	2.83

First Citizens BancShares currently has a consensus target price of $2,247.08, indicating a potential upside of 8.52%. Dime Community Bancshares has a consensus target price of $39.75, indicating a potential downside of 0.74%. Given First Citizens BancShares’ higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe First Citizens BancShares is more favorable than Dime Community Bancshares.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

78.0% of First Citizens BancShares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.3% of Dime Community Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 14.6% of First Citizens BancShares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.4% of Dime Community Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

First Citizens BancShares pays an annual dividend of $8.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Dime Community Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. First Citizens BancShares pays out 4.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Dime Community Bancshares pays out 37.6% 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. First Citizens BancShares has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years and Dime Community Bancshares has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Risk & Volatility

First Citizens BancShares has a beta of 0.62, meaning that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Dime Community Bancshares has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

First Citizens BancShares beats Dime Community Bancshares on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Citizens BancShares

First Citizens BancShares, Inc. operates as the holding company for First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company that provides retail and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses, and professionals. The company's deposit products include checking, savings, money market, and time deposit accounts. Its loan product portfolio comprises commercial construction and mortgage; and commercial and industrial leases, as well as small business administration loans. In addition, the company offers consumer loans, such as residential and revolving mortgage, consumer auto, and other consumer loans. Further, it provides wealth management services, including annuities, brokerage services, and third-party mutual funds, as well as investment management and advisory services. The company provides its products and services through its branch network. First Citizens BancShares, Inc. was founded in 1898 and is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.

About Dime Community Bancshares

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. operates as the holding company for Dime Community Bank that engages in the provision of various commercial banking and financial services. The company accepts time, savings, and demand deposits from the businesses, consumers, and local municipalities. It also offers commercial real estate loans; multi-family mortgage loans; residential mortgage loans; letters of credit; secured and unsecured commercial and consumer loans; lines of credit; home equity loans; and construction and land loans. In addition, the company invests in Federal Home Loan Bank, Federal National Mortgage Association, Government National Mortgage Association, and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation mortgage-backed securities, collateralized mortgage obligations, and other asset backed securities; U.S. Treasury securities; New York state and local municipal obligations; U.S. government-sponsored enterprise securities; and corporate bonds. Further, it offers certificate of deposit account registry services and insured cash sweep programs; federal deposit insurance corporation insurance; merchant credit and debit card processing, automated teller machines, cash management services, lockbox processing, online banking services, remote deposit capture, safe deposit boxes, and individual retirement accounts; investment products and services through a third-party broker dealer; and title insurance broker services for small and medium sized businesses, and municipal and consumer relationships. The company was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Hauppauge, New York.