Head-To-Head Survey: Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:UNB) vs. Citizens (NASDAQ:CIZN)

Dividends

Citizens pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.8%. Union Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. Citizens pays out 104.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Union Bankshares pays out 73.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

9.7% of Citizens shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 14.8% of Union Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.9% of Citizens shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Union Bankshares shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Citizens and Union Bankshares”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Citizens	$40.95 million	1.29	$1.85 million	$0.61	15.33
Union Bankshares	$45.55 million	2.93	$11.26 million	$1.95	15.11

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

Profitability

This table compares Citizens and Union Bankshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Citizens	4.44%	7.23%	0.23%
Union Bankshares	11.74%	13.14%	0.60%

Volatility & Risk

Citizens has a beta of -0.03, suggesting that its stock price is 103% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Union Bankshares has a beta of 0.8, suggesting that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Union Bankshares beats Citizens on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Citizens

Citizens Holding Company operates as the bank holding company for The Citizens Bank of Philadelphia that provides various commercial and personal banking products and services. It offers demand deposits; and savings and time deposit accounts. The company also provides secured and unsecured loans; mortgage loans; single and multi-family housing, farm, residential and commercial construction, and commercial real estate loans; commercial, industrial, and agricultural production loans; and consumer loans, as well as issues letters of credit. In addition, it offers personal and corporate trust services; credit life and title insurance; and online and mobile banking services. The company was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Philadelphia, Mississippi.

About Union Bankshares

Union Bankshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Union Bank that provides retail, commercial, and municipal banking products and services in northern Vermont and New Hampshire. It offers retail depository services, such as personal checking, savings, money market, IRA/SEP/KEOGH, and health savings accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also provides commercial real estate loans; commercial loans for plant and equipment, working capital, real estate renovation, and other business purposes to business owners and investors; small business administration guaranteed loans; residential construction and mortgage loans; municipal financing, including loans and excess deposits secured by FHLBB letters of credit; and home improvement loans and overdraft checking privileges against preauthorized lines of credit. In addition, it offers online cash management services, including account reconciliation, credit card depository, automated clearing house origination, wire transfers, positive pay and night depository services; merchant credit card services for the deposit and immediate credit of sales drafts; remote deposit capture services; and online mortgage application and consumer deposit account opening services. Further, the company provides business checking accounts; standby letters of credit, bank checks or money orders, and safe deposit boxes; ATM cards and services; debit cards; telephone, internet, and mobile banking services, including bill pay; and wealth management, fiduciary, and trust services. It offers retail banking services to individuals; and commercial banking services to small and medium sized business corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, and sole proprietorships, as well as nonprofit organizations, local municipalities, and school districts. Union Bankshares, Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Morrisville, Vermont.