WesBanco (WSBC) Competitors

WesBanco (NASDAQ:WSBC) and First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, media sentiment, risk, community ranking, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer WSBC or FRME?

First Merchants received 89 more outperform votes than WesBanco when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 59.73% of users gave First Merchants an outperform vote while only 51.46% of users gave WesBanco an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
WesBanco	Outperform Votes 264 51.46%	Underperform Votes 249 48.54%
First Merchants	Outperform Votes 353 59.73%	Underperform Votes 238 40.27%

Is WSBC or FRME a better dividend stock?

WesBanco pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. First Merchants pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. WesBanco pays out 60.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Merchants pays out 39.2% 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.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of WSBC or FRME?

61.4% of WesBanco shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.9% of First Merchants shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.4% of WesBanco shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of First Merchants shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is WSBC or FRME more profitable?

First Merchants has a net margin of 20.15% compared to WesBanco's net margin of 17.52%. First Merchants' return on equity of 10.21% beat WesBanco's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
WesBanco	17.52%	6.50%	0.87%
First Merchants	20.15%	10.21%	1.21%

Do analysts rate WSBC or FRME?

WesBanco presently has a consensus target price of $30.60, indicating a potential upside of 10.87%. First Merchants has a consensus target price of $41.25, indicating a potential upside of 24.81%. Given First Merchants' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe First Merchants is more favorable than WesBanco.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
WesBanco	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40
First Merchants	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has higher earnings and valuation, WSBC or FRME?

First Merchants has higher revenue and earnings than WesBanco. First Merchants is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WesBanco, 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
WesBanco	$831.96M	1.97	$159.03M	$2.40	11.50
First Merchants	$999.49M	1.94	$223.79M	$3.47	9.52

Which has more risk and volatility, WSBC or FRME?

WesBanco has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Merchants has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to WSBC or FRME?

In the previous week, First Merchants had 4 more articles in the media than WesBanco. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for First Merchants and 1 mentions for WesBanco. WesBanco's average media sentiment score of 1.89 beat First Merchants' score of 1.18 indicating that WesBanco is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
WesBanco	Very Positive
First Merchants	Positive

Summary

First Merchants beats WesBanco on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.