Comparing KB Financial Group (KB) and Its Peers

KB Financial Group (NYSE:KB) is one of 919 public companies in the “Banks” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare KB Financial Group to similar companies based on the strength of its earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

11.5% of KB Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.8% of shares of all “Banks” companies are owned by institutional investors. 69.0% of KB Financial Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 9.7% of shares of all “Banks” companies 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for KB Financial Group and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
KB Financial Group	0	0	2	1	3.33
KB Financial Group Competitors	7490	30240	27843	1488	2.35

As a group, “Banks” companies have a potential upside of 14.59%. Given KB Financial Group’s rivals higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe KB Financial Group has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares KB Financial Group and its rivals gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
KB Financial Group	$23.41 billion	$4.04 billion	9.75
KB Financial Group Competitors	$37.93 billion	$2.42 billion	21.33

KB Financial Group’s rivals have higher revenue, but lower earnings than KB Financial Group. KB Financial Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Risk and Volatility

KB Financial Group has a beta of 1.09, indicating that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, KB Financial Group’s rivals have a beta of 0.61, indicating that their average share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares KB Financial Group and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
KB Financial Group	17.67%	10.11%	0.76%
KB Financial Group Competitors	15.64%	9.43%	0.93%

Dividends

KB Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $2.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. KB Financial Group pays out 23.2% 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.

Summary

KB Financial Group beats its rivals on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About KB Financial Group

KB Financial Group Inc. is a South Korean financial holding company headquartered in Seoul. Established in 2008, it brings together businesses serving individual, corporate and institutional customers, with operations centered primarily in South Korea and an international presence through overseas offices and subsidiaries. Its businesses include commercial and retail banking through KB Kookmin Bank, as well as securities and investment banking, insurance, credit cards, asset management, and consumer and corporate finance.