Financial Survey: Bank First National (NASDAQ:BFC) & Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Bank First National (NASDAQ:BFC) and Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, earnings and profitability.

Risk and Volatility

Bank First National has a beta of 0.43, meaning that its stock price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Valley National Bancorp has a beta of 1.13, meaning that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Bank First National and Valley National Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bank First National	29.04%	10.92%	1.56%
Valley National Bancorp	12.87%	5.89%	0.66%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Bank First National and Valley National Bancorp, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bank First National	0	1	1	0	2.50
Valley National Bancorp	0	3	9	0	2.75

Bank First National presently has a consensus target price of $133.50, indicating a potential upside of 4.73%. Valley National Bancorp has a consensus target price of $11.85, indicating a potential upside of 8.18%. Given Valley National Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Valley National Bancorp is more favorable than Bank First National.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Bank First National and Valley National Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bank First National	$226.09 million	5.54	$65.56 million	$6.93	18.39
Valley National Bancorp	$3.58 billion	1.71	$380.27 million	$0.78	14.04

Valley National Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Bank First National. Valley National Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bank First National, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

30.0% of Bank First National shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.0% of Valley National Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.1% of Bank First National shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Valley National Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Bank First National pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Valley National Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Bank First National pays out 26.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Valley National Bancorp pays out 56.4% 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. Bank First National has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years.

Summary

Bank First National beats Valley National Bancorp on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bank First National

Bank First Corporation operates as a holding company for Bank First, N.A. that provides consumer and commercial financial services to businesses, professionals, consumers, associations, individuals, and governmental authorities in Wisconsin. It offers checking, savings, money market, cash management, retirement, and health savings accounts; other time deposits; certificates of deposit; and residential mortgage products. The company's loan products include real estate loans, including commercial real estate, residential mortgage, and home equity loans; commercial and industrial loans for working capital, accounts receivable, inventory financing, and other business purposes; construction and development loans; residential 1-4 family loans; and consumer loans for personal and household purposes, including secured and unsecured installment loans, and revolving lines of credit. It also provides credit cards; ATM processing; insurance; data processing and other information technology; investment and safekeeping; treasury management; and online, telephone, and mobile banking services. The company was formerly known as Bank First National Corporation and changed its name to Bank First Corporation in June 2019. Bank First Corporation was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

About Valley National Bancorp

Valley National Bancorp operates as the holding company for Valley National Bank that provides various commercial, private banking, retail, insurance, and wealth management financial services products. It operates through Consumer Banking, Commercial Banking, and Treasury and Corporate other segments. The company offers non-interest bearing, savings, NOW, money market, and time deposit accounts; commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, residential mortgage, and automobile loans; loans secured by the cash surrender value of life insurance; home equity loans and lines of credit; automobile financing; and secured and unsecured other consumer loans. It also invests in various securities and interest-bearing deposits with other banks; and provides international banking services, such as standby and documentary letters of credit, and related products, as well as foreign exchange transactions, documentary collections, and foreign wire transfers services. In addition, the company offers investment services for individuals and small to medium sized businesses; and trusts investment strategies designed for various investment profiles and objectives. Further, it provides trust services, such as living and testamentary trusts, investment management, custodial and escrow services, and estate administration to individuals; tax credit advisory services; brokerage services; property and casualty, life, health, and title insurance agency services; and health care equipment lending and other commercial equipment leasing services, as well as owns real estate related investments. Additionally, the company offers online, mobile, and telephone banking services; receivable, payment, and security solution, merchant, payroll processing, and liquidity services; credit cards; and drive-in and night deposit, automated teller machine, remote deposit capture, and safe deposit facility services. Valley National Bancorp was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey.