Reviewing BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) and Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS)

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) and Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for BancFirst and Peoples Financial Services, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BancFirst	1	2	0	0	1.67
Peoples Financial Services	0	1	1	0	2.50

BancFirst currently has a consensus target price of $113.33, indicating a potential downside of 9.40%. Peoples Financial Services has a consensus target price of $53.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.20%. Given Peoples Financial Services’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Peoples Financial Services is more favorable than BancFirst.

Risk and Volatility

BancFirst has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Peoples Financial Services has a beta of 0.76, meaning that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares BancFirst and Peoples Financial Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BancFirst	23.52%	14.21%	1.68%
Peoples Financial Services	3.70%	8.97%	0.82%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares BancFirst and Peoples Financial Services”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BancFirst	$645.29 million	6.44	$216.35 million	$6.61	18.92
Peoples Financial Services	$156.73 million	3.15	$8.50 million	$2.13	23.21

BancFirst has higher revenue and earnings than Peoples Financial Services. BancFirst is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Peoples Financial Services, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

51.7% of BancFirst shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 31.7% of Peoples Financial Services shares are held by institutional investors. 32.4% of BancFirst shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.0% of Peoples Financial Services shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

BancFirst pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Peoples Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $2.47 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. BancFirst pays out 27.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Peoples Financial Services pays out 116.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. BancFirst has raised its dividend for 31 consecutive years and Peoples Financial Services has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years.

Summary

BancFirst beats Peoples Financial Services on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BancFirst

BancFirst Corporation operates as the bank holding company for BancFirst that provides a range of commercial banking services to retail customers, and small to medium-sized businesses. The company operates through BancFirst Metropolitan Banks, BancFirst Community Banks, Pegasus, Worthington, and Other Financial Services segments. It offers checking accounts, negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, sweep accounts, club accounts, individual retirement accounts, and certificates of deposit, as well as overdraft protection and auto draft services. The company also provides commercial and agricultural non-real estate loans for working capital, facilities acquisition or expansion, purchase of equipment, and other needs; lending services that include private banking, energy, commercial and residential real estate, and commercial and industrial loans; and loans to finance purchases of consumer goods, such as automobiles, boats, household goods, vacations, and education. In addition, it engages in the investment management and administration of trusts for individuals, corporations, and employee benefit plans, as well as bond trustee and paying agent business for various Oklahoma municipalities and governmental entities; and provision of item processing, research, and other correspondent banking services to financial institutions and governmental units. Further, the company provides insurance agency services; depository and funds transfer, collection, safe deposit box, cash management, and other services. It serves customers in non-metropolitan trade centers and cities in the metropolitan statistical areas of Oklahoma. The company was formerly known as United Community Corporation and changed its name to BancFirst Corporation in November 1988. BancFirst Corporation was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

About Peoples Financial Services

Peoples Financial Services Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company that provides various commercial and retail banking services. The company accepts money market, negotiable order of withdrawal, savings, individual retirement, demand deposit, and certificates of deposit accounts. It also provides residential real estate, automobile, manufactured housing, personal, and home equity loans; and commercial real estate, working capital, construction, small business administration, and agricultural loans, as well as loans for equipment and other commercial needs, and mineral rights. In addition, the company offers fiduciary and investment services; investment management, IRA trustee, estate administration, living and life insurance trust, trustee under will, guardianship, custodial/IRA custodial, and corporate trust services, as well as pension and profit-sharing plans. Further, it provides wealth management products and services comprising investment portfolio management, estate and business succession planning, annuities, insurance, retirement plan, and tax planning, as well as education funding strategies; and securities, brokerage, and investor services. Additionally, the company offers small business checking and merchant money market accounts, online and telephone banking, business credit cards, merchant line of credit, and financial checkup services; and remote deposit capture, automatic clearing house transaction, cash management, automated teller machine, point of sale transaction, safe deposit box, night depository, direct deposit, and official check services. It serves business, non-profit, governmental, municipal agency, and professional customers, as well as retail customers. Peoples Financial Services Corp. was founded in 1905 and is headquartered in Scranton, Pennsylvania.