First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA – Get Free Report) and Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC – Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends and profitability.
Dividends
First Citizens BancShares pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Wintrust Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. First Citizens BancShares pays out 0.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Wintrust Financial pays out 16.1% 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. First Citizens BancShares has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Wintrust Financial has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years. Wintrust Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares First Citizens BancShares and Wintrust Financial’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| First Citizens BancShares | $5.55 billion | 3.42 | $1.10 billion | $735.43 | 1.78 |
| Wintrust Financial | $2.21 billion | 2.05 | $509.68 million | $9.94 | 7.44 |
Profitability
This table compares First Citizens BancShares and Wintrust Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| First Citizens BancShares | 60.22% | 12.69% | 1.08% |
| Wintrust Financial | 20.73% | 14.14% | 1.19% |
Institutional and Insider Ownership
62.7% of First Citizens BancShares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.0% of Wintrust Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.4% of First Citizens BancShares shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Wintrust Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings for First Citizens BancShares and Wintrust Financial, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| First Citizens BancShares | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2.67 |
| Wintrust Financial | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 3.11 |
First Citizens BancShares presently has a consensus price target of $1,608.33, suggesting a potential upside of 22.98%. Wintrust Financial has a consensus price target of $92.73, suggesting a potential upside of 25.32%. Given Wintrust Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Wintrust Financial is more favorable than First Citizens BancShares.
Volatility & Risk
First Citizens BancShares has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wintrust Financial has a beta of 1.21, meaning that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Wintrust Financial beats First Citizens BancShares on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.
About First Citizens BancShares
First Citizens BancShares, Inc. operates as the holding company for First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company that provides retail and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses, and professionals. The company's deposit products include checking, savings, money market, and time deposit accounts. Its loan product portfolio comprises commercial construction and mortgage; and commercial and industrial leases, as well as small business administration paycheck protection program loans. In addition, the company offers consumer loans, such as residential and revolving mortgage, construction and land development, consumer auto, and other consumer loans. Further, it provides wealth management services, including annuities, discount brokerage services, and third-party mutual funds, as well as investment management and advisory services. The company provides its products and services through its branch network. First Citizens BancShares, Inc. was founded in 1898 and is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.
About Wintrust Financial
Wintrust Financial Corporation operates as a financial holding company. It operates in three segments: Community Banking, Specialty Finance, and Wealth Management. The Community Banking segment offers non-interest bearing deposits, non-brokered interest-bearing transaction accounts, and savings and domestic time deposits; home equity, consumer, and real estate loans; safe deposit facilities; and automatic teller machine (ATM), online and mobile banking, and other services. It also engages in the retail origination and purchase of residential mortgages for sale into the secondary market; and provision of lending, deposits, and treasury management services to condominium, homeowner, and community associations, as well as asset-based lending for middle-market companies. In addition, this segment offers loan and deposit services to mortgage brokerage companies; lending to restaurant franchisees; direct leasing; small business administration loans; commercial mortgages and construction loans; and financial solutions. It provides personal and commercial banking services primarily to individuals, small to mid-sized businesses, local governmental units, and institutional clients. The Specialty Finance segment offers commercial and life insurance premiums financing for businesses and individuals; accounts receivable financing, value-added, and out-sourced administrative services; and other specialty finance services, as well as data processing of payrolls, billing, and cash management services to temporary staffing industry. The Wealth Management segment provides trust and investment, asset management, tax-deferred exchange, securities brokerage, and retirement plan services. Wintrust Financial Corporation was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois.
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