C&F Financial (NASDAQ:CFFI – Get Free Report) and Regions Financial (NYSE:RF – 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 institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, earnings, valuation and dividends.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares C&F Financial and Regions Financial”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| C&F Financial | $140.28 million | 1.82 | $26.83 million | $8.70 | 9.01 |
| Regions Financial | $7.62 billion | 3.21 | $2.16 billion | $2.40 | 11.93 |
Volatility and Risk
C&F Financial has a beta of 0.34, indicating that its share price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Regions Financial has a beta of 1, indicating that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for C&F Financial and Regions Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| C&F Financial | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
| Regions Financial | 3 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 2.22 |
Regions Financial has a consensus price target of $30.73, indicating a potential upside of 7.36%. Given Regions Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Regions Financial is more favorable than C&F Financial.
Profitability
This table compares C&F Financial and Regions Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| C&F Financial | 14.84% | 11.03% | 1.03% |
| Regions Financial | 23.13% | 12.70% | 1.40% |
Institutional and Insider Ownership
37.2% of C&F Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.4% of Regions Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 6.4% of C&F Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Regions Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Dividends
C&F Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Regions Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. C&F Financial pays out 22.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Regions Financial pays out 44.2% 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. C&F Financial has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Regions Financial has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Regions Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Summary
Regions Financial beats C&F Financial on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About C&F Financial
C&F Financial Corp. is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services to individuals and businesses. It operates through the following segments: Community Banking, Mortgage Banking and Consumer Finance. The Community Banking segment provides checking and savings deposit accounts, business, real estate, development, mortgage, home equity, and installment loans. The Mortgage Banking segment offers ancillary mortgage loan origination services for loan settlement and residential appraisals. The Consumer Finance segment consists of automobile financing through lending programs that are designed to serve customers in the non-prime market who have limited access to traditional automobile financing. The company was founded on March 8, 1994 and is headquartered in Toano, VA.
About Regions Financial
Regions Financial Corporation, a financial holding company, provides banking and bank-related services to individual and corporate customers. It operates through three segments: Corporate Bank, Consumer Bank, and Wealth Management. The Corporate Bank segment offers commercial banking services, such as commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, and investor real estate lending; equipment lease financing; deposit products; and securities underwriting and placement, loan syndication and placement, foreign exchange, derivatives, merger and acquisition, and other advisory services. It serves corporate, middle market, and commercial real estate developers and investors. The Consumer Bank segment provides consumer banking products and services related to residential first mortgages, home equity lines and loans, consumer credit cards, and other consumer loans, as well as deposits. The Wealth Management segment offers credit related products, and retirement and savings solutions; and trust and investment management, asset management, and estate planning services to individuals, businesses, governmental institutions, and non-profit entities. It also provides investment and insurance products; low-income housing tax credit corporate fund syndication services; and other specialty financing services. The company was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.
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