Kearny Financial (KRNY) Competitors

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) and Kearny Financial (NASDAQ:KRNY) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, community ranking and media sentiment.

Is BHLB or KRNY a better dividend stock?

Berkshire Hills Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Kearny Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.9%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp pays out 29.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Kearny Financial pays out -38.6% 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. Kearny Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in BHLB or KRNY?

Berkshire Hills Bancorp received 70 more outperform votes than Kearny Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 55.77% of users gave Kearny Financial an outperform vote while only 49.91% of users gave Berkshire Hills Bancorp an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Berkshire Hills Bancorp	Outperform Votes 273 49.91%	Underperform Votes 274 50.09%
Kearny Financial	Outperform Votes 203 55.77%	Underperform Votes 161 44.23%

Do analysts rate BHLB or KRNY?

Berkshire Hills Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $31.13, indicating a potential upside of 23.17%. Kearny Financial has a consensus target price of $7.75, indicating a potential upside of 21.86%. Given Berkshire Hills Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Berkshire Hills Bancorp is more favorable than Kearny Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Berkshire Hills Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83
Kearny Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Is BHLB or KRNY more profitable?

Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a net margin of 8.56% compared to Kearny Financial's net margin of -20.05%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp's return on equity of 8.91% beat Kearny Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Berkshire Hills Bancorp	8.56%	8.91%	0.79%
Kearny Financial	-20.05%	3.31%	0.33%

Which has better valuation & earnings, BHLB or KRNY?

Berkshire Hills Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Kearny Financial. Kearny Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Berkshire Hills Bancorp, 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
Berkshire Hills Bancorp	$438.66M	2.67	$61M	$2.47	10.23
Kearny Financial	$152.24M	2.70	-$86.67M	-$1.14	-5.58

Does the media refer more to BHLB or KRNY?

In the previous week, Kearny Financial had 5 more articles in the media than Berkshire Hills Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Kearny Financial and 0 mentions for Berkshire Hills Bancorp. Kearny Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.54 beat Berkshire Hills Bancorp's score of 0.00 indicating that Kearny Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Berkshire Hills Bancorp	Neutral
Kearny Financial	Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, BHLB or KRNY?

Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a beta of 0.62, suggesting that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kearny Financial has a beta of 0.7, suggesting that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in BHLB or KRNY?

83.1% of Berkshire Hills Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.0% of Kearny Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Berkshire Hills Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.6% of Kearny Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Berkshire Hills Bancorp beats Kearny Financial on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.