Comparing Glacier Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBCI) and Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC)

Glacier Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBCI) and Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, earnings, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Glacier Bancorp and Citizens & Northern’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Glacier Bancorp	14.69%	5.84%	0.65%
Citizens & Northern	14.47%	8.28%	0.86%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

80.2% of Glacier Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.8% of Citizens & Northern shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Glacier Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.0% of Citizens & Northern shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Glacier Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Citizens & Northern pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. Glacier Bancorp pays out 81.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Citizens & Northern pays out 77.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Citizens & Northern is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Glacier Bancorp and Citizens & Northern”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Glacier Bancorp	$1.14 billion	5.82	$222.93 million	$1.62	36.01
Citizens & Northern	$137.92 million	2.32	$24.15 million	$1.44	14.39

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Glacier Bancorp and Citizens & Northern, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Glacier Bancorp	0	3	2	0	2.40
Citizens & Northern	0	0	0	0	0.00

Glacier Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $46.20, suggesting a potential downside of 20.80%. Given Glacier Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Glacier Bancorp is more favorable than Citizens & Northern.

Volatility and Risk

Glacier Bancorp has a beta of 0.77, suggesting that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Citizens & Northern has a beta of 0.46, suggesting that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Glacier Bancorp beats Citizens & Northern on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Glacier Bancorp

Glacier Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Glacier Bank that provides commercial banking services to individuals, small to medium-sized businesses, community organizations, and public entities in the United States. The company offers retail banking, business banking, and mortgage origination and loan servicing services. It also provides non-interest bearing deposit and interest bearing deposit accounts, such as negotiable order of withdrawal and demand deposit accounts, savings, money market deposits, fixed rate certificates of deposit, negotiated-rate jumbo certificates, and individual retirement accounts. In addition, the company offers construction and permanent loans on residential real estate; consumer land or lot loans; unimproved land and land development loans; and residential builder guidance lines comprising pre-sold and spec-home construction, and lot acquisition loans. Further, it provides commercial real estate loans to purchase, construct, and finance commercial real estate properties; consumer loans secured by real estate, automobiles, or other assets; home equity loans consisting of junior lien mortgages, and first and junior lien lines of credit secured by owner-occupied 1-4 family residences; and agriculture loans. Glacier Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Kalispell, Montana.

About Citizens & Northern

Citizens & Northern Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Citizens & Northern Bank that provides various banking and related services to individual and corporate customers. Its deposit products include various types of checking accounts, passbook and statement savings, money market accounts, interest checking accounts, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit; and lending products, including commercial, mortgage, and consumer loans, as well as specialized instruments, such as commercial letters-of-credit. The company also offers wealth management services comprising 401(k) plans, retirement planning, estate planning, estate settlements, and asset management; personal and commercial insurance products; and mutual funds, annuities, educational savings accounts, and other investment products through registered agents; and reinsures credit and mortgage, life and accident, and health insurance products. Citizens & Northern Corporation was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania.