Contrasting CVB Financial (NASDAQ:CVBF) and Zions Bancorporation, N.A. (NASDAQ:ZION)

CVB Financial (NASDAQ:CVBF) and Zions Bancorporation, N.A. (NASDAQ:ZION) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and earnings.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares CVB Financial and Zions Bancorporation, N.A.”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CVB Financial	$648.47 million	3.95	$209.30 million	$1.50	12.57
Zions Bancorporation, N.A.	$4.94 billion	1.62	$899.00 million	$6.00	9.04

Zions Bancorporation, N.A. has higher revenue and earnings than CVB Financial. Zions Bancorporation, N.A. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CVB Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares CVB Financial and Zions Bancorporation, N.A.’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CVB Financial	32.28%	9.25%	1.35%
Zions Bancorporation, N.A.	18.19%	13.70%	1.03%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

74.2% of CVB Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.8% of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.1% of CVB Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

CVB Financial has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Zions Bancorporation, N.A. has a beta of 0.83, indicating that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for CVB Financial and Zions Bancorporation, N.A., as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CVB Financial	0	2	2	0	2.50
Zions Bancorporation, N.A.	1	14	6	1	2.32

CVB Financial currently has a consensus target price of $24.17, suggesting a potential upside of 28.14%. Zions Bancorporation, N.A. has a consensus target price of $63.58, suggesting a potential upside of 17.22%. Given CVB Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe CVB Financial is more favorable than Zions Bancorporation, N.A..

Dividends

CVB Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Zions Bancorporation, N.A. pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. CVB Financial pays out 53.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Zions Bancorporation, N.A. pays out 30.0% 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. Zions Bancorporation, N.A. has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years.

Summary

Zions Bancorporation, N.A. beats CVB Financial on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CVB Financial

CVB Financial Corp. operates as a bank holding company for Citizens Business Bank, a state-chartered bank that provides banking and financial services to small to mid-sized businesses and individuals. It offers checking, savings, money market, and time certificates of deposit products for business and personal accounts; and serves as a federal tax depository for business customers. The company also provides commercial lending products comprising lines of credit and other working capital financing, accounts receivable lending, and letters of credit; agriculture loans to finance the operating needs of wholesale dairy farm operations, cattle feeders, livestock raisers, and farmers; lease financing services for municipal governments; commercial real estate and construction loans; and consumer financing products, including automobile leasing and financing, lines of credit, credit cards, home mortgages, and home equity loans and lines of credit. In addition, it offers various specialized services, such as treasury management systems for monitoring cash flow, merchant card processing program, armored pick-up and delivery, payroll services, remote deposit capture, electronic funds transfers, wires and automated clearinghouse, and online account access. Further, the company provides trust services, such as fiduciary services, mutual funds, annuities, 401(k) plans, and individual investment accounts. CVB Financial Corp. was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Ontario, California.

About Zions Bancorporation, N.A.

Zions Bancorporation, National Association provides various banking products and related services primarily in the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. It operates through Zions Bank, California Bank & Trust, Amegy Bank, National Bank of Arizona, Nevada State Bank, Vectra Bank Colorado, and The Commerce Bank of Washington segments. The company offers commercial and small business banking services to small- and medium-sized businesses, such as commercial, industrial, and owner-occupied lending and leasing; municipal and public finance services; depository account and cash management services; commercial and small business cards; merchant processing services; corporate trust services; and correspondent banking and international lending services. It also provides capital markets and investment banking services, including loan syndications, foreign exchange services, interest rate derivatives, fixed income securities underwriting, advisory and capital raising, commercial mortgage-backed security conduit lending, and power and project financing; and commercial real estate lending services consisting of term and construction/land development financing for commercial and residential purposes. In addition, the company offers retail banking services comprising residential mortgages, home equity lines of credit, personal lines of credit, installment consumer loans, depository account services, consumer cards, and personal trust services; and wealth management services consisting of investment management, fiduciary and estate, and advanced business succession and estate planning services. The company was formerly known as ZB, National Association and changed its name to Zions Bancorporation, National Association in September 2018. Zions Bancorporation, National Association was founded in 1873 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.