Citizens (NASDAQ:CIZN) versus MidWestOne Financial Group (NASDAQ:MOFG) Head-To-Head Comparison

MidWestOne Financial Group (NASDAQ:MOFG) and Citizens (NASDAQ:CIZN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, risk, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Dividends

MidWestOne Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $0.97 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Citizens pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. MidWestOne Financial Group pays out -23.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Citizens pays out 8.2% 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. MidWestOne Financial Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

65.4% of MidWestOne Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.7% of Citizens shares are held by institutional investors. 2.5% of MidWestOne Financial Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.9% of Citizens shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares MidWestOne Financial Group and Citizens’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MidWestOne Financial Group	9.79%	6.54%	0.54%
Citizens	7.00%	11.28%	0.37%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares MidWestOne Financial Group and Citizens”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MidWestOne Financial Group	$69.29 million	8.00	-$60.29 million	($4.06)	-6.56
Citizens	$40.95 million	1.00	$5.49 million	$0.98	7.40

Citizens has lower revenue, but higher earnings than MidWestOne Financial Group. MidWestOne Financial Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Citizens, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for MidWestOne Financial Group and Citizens, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MidWestOne Financial Group	0	2	1	0	2.33
Citizens	0	0	0	0	0.00

MidWestOne Financial Group currently has a consensus price target of $34.67, indicating a potential upside of 30.23%. Given MidWestOne Financial Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe MidWestOne Financial Group is more favorable than Citizens.

Risk & Volatility

MidWestOne Financial Group has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Citizens has a beta of 0.02, suggesting that its stock price is 98% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

MidWestOne Financial Group beats Citizens on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MidWestOne Financial Group

MidWestOne Financial Group, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for MidWestOne Bank that provides commercial and retail banking products and services to individuals, businesses, governmental units, and institutional customers. It offers range of deposit products, including noninterest bearing and interest bearing demand deposits, savings, money market, and time deposits accounts. The company also provides commercial, real estate, agricultural, credit card, and consumer loans; and financing arrangements, such as brokered deposits, term debt, subordinated debt, and equity. In addition, it offers trust and investment services comprising administering estates, trusts, and conservatorships; property and farm management, investment advisory, retail securities brokerage, financial planning, and custodial services; and licensed brokers services. Further, the company provides online and mobile banking, debit cards, automated teller machines, and safe deposit boxes. MidWestOne Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Iowa City, Iowa.

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.