Atlantic Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:AUB) vs. Citizens (NASDAQ:CIZN) Financial Survey

Citizens (NASDAQ:CIZN) and Atlantic Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:AUB) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and profitability.

Dividends

Citizens pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Atlantic Union Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Citizens pays out 8.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Atlantic Union Bankshares pays out 66.0% 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. Citizens has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Atlantic Union Bankshares has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Atlantic Union Bankshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Citizens and Atlantic 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	1.00	$5.49 million	$0.95	7.65
Atlantic Union Bankshares	$1.05 billion	4.33	$209.13 million	$2.06	15.51

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

Risk & Volatility

Citizens has a beta of -0.02, meaning that its share price is 102% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atlantic Union Bankshares has a beta of 0.88, meaning that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

9.7% of Citizens shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.6% of Atlantic Union Bankshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.9% of Citizens shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Atlantic Union Bankshares shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Citizens and Atlantic Union Bankshares, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Citizens	0	0	1	0	3.00
Atlantic Union Bankshares	0	2	3	1	2.83

Citizens currently has a consensus price target of $26.00, indicating a potential upside of 257.63%. Atlantic Union Bankshares has a consensus price target of $38.3333, indicating a potential upside of 19.99%. Given Citizens’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Citizens is more favorable than Atlantic Union Bankshares.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Citizens	7.00%	11.28%	0.37%
Atlantic Union Bankshares	15.53%	8.50%	1.06%

Summary

Atlantic Union Bankshares beats Citizens on 13 of the 18 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 Atlantic Union Bankshares

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Atlantic Union Bank that provides banking and related financial products and services to consumers and businesses in the United States. It operates in two segments, Wholesale Banking and Consumer Banking. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, time deposit, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; and other depository services. It also provides loans for commercial, industrial, residential mortgage, and consumer purposes, as well as debit and credit cards. In addition, it provides treasury management and capital market, wealth management, private banking, trust, financial and retirement planning, brokerage, investment management, equipment finance, mortgage banking, and insurance products and services. The company offers products and services through full-service branches and ATMs, as well as through its mobile and internet banking. The company was formerly known as Union Bankshares Corporation and changed its name to Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation in May 2019. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Glen Allen, Virginia.