Northfield Bancorp (NFBK) Competitors

Brookline Bancorp (NASDAQ:BRKL) and Northfield Bancorp (NASDAQ:NFBK) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, media sentiment, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and institutional ownership.

Which has more risk and volatility, BRKL or NFBK?

Brookline Bancorp has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Northfield Bancorp has a beta of 0.84, suggesting that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is BRKL or NFBK more profitable?

Northfield Bancorp has a net margin of 13.56% compared to Brookline Bancorp's net margin of 12.12%. Brookline Bancorp's return on equity of 6.69% beat Northfield Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Brookline Bancorp	12.12%	6.69%	0.71%
Northfield Bancorp	13.56%	4.64%	0.58%

Is BRKL or NFBK a better dividend stock?

Brookline Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.54 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Northfield Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. Brookline Bancorp pays out 60.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Northfield Bancorp pays out 60.5% 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.

Do analysts prefer BRKL or NFBK?

Brookline Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $15.25, indicating a potential upside of 50.25%. Northfield Bancorp has a consensus price target of $13.00, indicating a potential upside of 22.18%. Given Brookline Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Brookline Bancorp is more favorable than Northfield Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Brookline Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Northfield Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, BRKL or NFBK?

Brookline Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Northfield Bancorp. Brookline Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Northfield 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
Brookline Bancorp	$654.14M	1.38	$68.71M	$0.89	11.40
Northfield Bancorp	$254.73M	1.78	$29.94M	$0.86	12.37

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of BRKL or NFBK?

78.9% of Brookline Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.5% of Northfield Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of Brookline Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.0% of Northfield Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor BRKL or NFBK?

In the previous week, Brookline Bancorp had 5 more articles in the media than Northfield Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Brookline Bancorp and 5 mentions for Northfield Bancorp. Northfield Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.96 beat Brookline Bancorp's score of 0.21 indicating that Northfield Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Brookline Bancorp	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Northfield Bancorp	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Brookline Bancorp beats Northfield Bancorp on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.