Head to Head Comparison: Flagstar Bank, National Association (NYSE:FLG) and Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:UNB)

Flagstar Bank, National Association (NYSE:FLG) and Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:UNB) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Flagstar Bank, National Association and Union Bankshares, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Flagstar Bank, National Association	2	5	5	0	2.25
Union Bankshares	0	1	0	0	2.00

Flagstar Bank, National Association currently has a consensus price target of $14.05, suggesting a potential upside of 9.18%. Given Flagstar Bank, National Association’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Flagstar Bank, National Association is more favorable than Union Bankshares.

Volatility & Risk

Flagstar Bank, National Association has a beta of 1.11, meaning that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Union Bankshares has a beta of 0.38, meaning that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Flagstar Bank, National Association 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
Flagstar Bank, National Association	$6.35 billion	0.84	-$1.12 billion	($0.97)	-13.26
Union Bankshares	$77.68 million	1.40	$8.76 million	$2.50	9.49

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

Dividends

Flagstar Bank, National Association pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Union Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.1%. Flagstar Bank, National Association pays out -4.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Union Bankshares pays out 57.6% 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.

Profitability

This table compares Flagstar Bank, National Association and Union Bankshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Flagstar Bank, National Association	-7.06%	-3.80%	-0.30%
Union Bankshares	13.16%	15.88%	0.74%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

67.9% of Flagstar Bank, National Association shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 14.8% of Union Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. 19.4% of Flagstar Bank, National Association shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Union Bankshares shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

About Flagstar Bank, National Association

Flagstar Financial, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Flagstar Bank, N.A. that provides banking products and services in the United States. The company’s deposit products include interest-bearing checking and money market, savings, non-interest-bearing, and retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. Its loan products comprise multi-family loans; commercial real estate loans; acquisition, development, and construction loans; commercial and industrial loans; one-to-four family loans; specialty finance loans and leases; warehouse loans; and other loans, such as home equity lines of credit, boat and recreational vehicle indirect lending, point of sale consumer loans, and other consumer loans, including overdraft loans. The company offers cash management products; non-deposit investment and insurance products; and online banking, mobile banking, and bank-by-phone services. It primarily serves individuals, small and mid-size businesses, and professional associations. The company was formerly known as New York Community Bancorp, Inc. and changed its name to Flagstar Financial, Inc. in October 2024. Flagstar Financial, Inc. was founded in 1859 and is headquartered in Hicksville, New York.

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.