Reviewing Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) & BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) (NASDAQ:BCBP)

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) and BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) (NASDAQ:BCBP) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Fulton Financial and BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ), as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fulton Financial	0	7	1	0	2.13
BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ)	1	3	0	0	1.75

Fulton Financial presently has a consensus price target of $20.90, indicating a potential upside of 10.23%. BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) has a consensus price target of $9.25, indicating a potential upside of 13.64%. Given BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ)’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) is more favorable than Fulton Financial.

Volatility and Risk

Fulton Financial has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) has a beta of 0.77, meaning that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Fulton Financial and BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ)”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fulton Financial	$1.86 billion	1.84	$288.74 million	$1.91	9.93
BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ)	$196.95 million	0.71	$18.62 million	$0.05	162.80

Fulton Financial has higher revenue and earnings than BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ). Fulton Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ), indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Fulton Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.9%. Fulton Financial pays out 37.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) pays out 1,280.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Fulton Financial has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Fulton Financial and BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ)’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fulton Financial	19.01%	12.75%	1.24%
BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ)	1.50%	0.95%	0.08%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

72.0% of Fulton Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 36.0% of BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Fulton Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.9% of BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Fulton Financial beats BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ) on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Fulton Financial

Fulton Financial Corporation operates as a financial holding company that provides consumer and commercial banking products and services in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia. It accepts various checking accounts and savings deposit products, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts. The company offers consumer loans products, including home equity loans and lines of credit, automobile loans, personal lines of credit, and checking account overdraft protection; construction and jumbo residential mortgage loans; and commercial lending products comprising commercial real estate, commercial and industrial, and construction loans, as well as equipment lease financing loans. In addition, it offers letters of credit, cash management services, and traditional deposit products; and wealth management services, including investment management, trust, brokerage, insurance, and investment advisory services. Further, the company owns trust preferred securities; and sells various life insurance products. It provides its products and services through financial center offices, as well as through a network of automated teller machines, telephone banking, mobile banking, and online banking. Fulton Financial Corporation was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

About BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NJ)

BCB Bancorp, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for BCB Community Bank that engages in the provision of banking products and services to businesses and individuals in the United States. The company offers insured deposit products, including savings and club accounts, interest and non-interest-bearing demand accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts. It also provides various loan products, such as commercial and multi-family real estate loans, one-to-four family mortgage loans, commercial business loans, construction loans, home equity loans, and consumer loans. In addition, the company offers retail and commercial banking services comprising wire transfer, money order, safe deposit box, night depository, debit card, online and mobile banking, fraud detection, and automated teller services. The company was founded in 2000 and is based in Bayonne, New Jersey.