Citizens Financial Group (CFG) Competitors

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) and Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, media sentiment, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of CFG or FITB?

94.9% of Citizens Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.8% of Fifth Third Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Citizens Financial Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Fifth Third Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is CFG or FITB a better dividend stock?

Citizens Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Fifth Third Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Citizens Financial Group pays out 53.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Fifth Third Bancorp pays out 47.0% 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. Fifth Third Bancorp has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years.

Does the media refer more to CFG or FITB?

In the previous week, Citizens Financial Group had 1 more articles in the media than Fifth Third Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 22 mentions for Citizens Financial Group and 21 mentions for Fifth Third Bancorp. Citizens Financial Group's average media sentiment score of 1.04 beat Fifth Third Bancorp's score of 0.94 indicating that Citizens Financial Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Citizens Financial Group	11 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Fifth Third Bancorp	12 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer CFG or FITB?

Citizens Financial Group presently has a consensus price target of $49.32, suggesting a potential upside of 2.67%. Fifth Third Bancorp has a consensus price target of $47.53, suggesting a potential upside of 10.64%. Given Fifth Third Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Fifth Third Bancorp is more favorable than Citizens Financial Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Citizens Financial Group	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78
Fifth Third Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.84

Which has higher valuation and earnings, CFG or FITB?

Fifth Third Bancorp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Citizens Financial Group. Fifth Third Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Citizens Financial Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Citizens Financial Group	$12.36B	1.70	$1.51B	$3.15	15.25
Fifth Third Bancorp	$8.29B	3.46	$2.31B	$3.15	13.64

Which has more volatility and risk, CFG or FITB?

Citizens Financial Group has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fifth Third Bancorp has a beta of 0.91, indicating that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is CFG or FITB more profitable?

Fifth Third Bancorp has a net margin of 17.65% compared to Citizens Financial Group's net margin of 12.76%. Fifth Third Bancorp's return on equity of 13.64% beat Citizens Financial Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Citizens Financial Group	12.76%	6.84%	0.70%
Fifth Third Bancorp	17.65%	13.64%	1.14%

Summary

Fifth Third Bancorp beats Citizens Financial Group on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.