FRME vs. FFBC, SFNC, WAFD, WSBC, FMBI, WBS, CBSH, WAL, CFR, and BPOP
Should you be buying First Merchants stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of First Merchants include First Financial Bancorp. (FFBC), Simmons First National (SFNC), WaFd (WAFD), WesBanco (WSBC), First Midwest Bancorp (FMBI), Webster Financial (WBS), Commerce Bancshares (CBSH), Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL), Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR), and Popular (BPOP). These companies are all part of the "finance" sector.
First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) and First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, community ranking, profitability and risk.
73.9% of First Merchants shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.2% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of First Merchants shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are owned 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.
First Merchants has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Financial Bancorp. has a beta of 1.04, meaning that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.
First Merchants currently has a consensus price target of $41.25, suggesting a potential upside of 24.81%. First Financial Bancorp. has a consensus price target of $24.67, suggesting a potential upside of 10.61%. Given First Merchants' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe First Merchants is more favorable than First Financial Bancorp..
In the previous week, First Merchants had 2 more articles in the media than First Financial Bancorp.. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for First Merchants and 3 mentions for First Financial Bancorp.. First Merchants' average media sentiment score of 1.08 beat First Financial Bancorp.'s score of 0.78 indicating that First Merchants is being referred to more favorably in the media.
First Financial Bancorp. has a net margin of 20.74% compared to First Merchants' net margin of 20.15%. First Financial Bancorp.'s return on equity of 11.22% beat First Merchants' return on equity.
First Financial Bancorp. has higher revenue and earnings than First Merchants. First Financial Bancorp. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Merchants, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
First Merchants received 80 more outperform votes than First Financial Bancorp. when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 59.73% of users gave First Merchants an outperform vote while only 46.59% of users gave First Financial Bancorp. an outperform vote.
First Merchants pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. First Financial Bancorp. pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. First Merchants pays out 40.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Financial Bancorp. pays out 37.1% 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.
Summary
First Merchants beats First Financial Bancorp. on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding FRME and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartThis chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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