First Merchants (FRME) Competitors

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

Do analysts prefer FRME or FFBC?

First Merchants presently has a consensus target price of $41.25, indicating a potential upside of 15.29%. First Financial Bancorp. has a consensus target price of $24.67, indicating a potential upside of 4.25%. Given First Merchants' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe First Merchants is more favorable than First Financial Bancorp..

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Merchants	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
First Financial Bancorp.	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Is FRME or FFBC a better dividend stock?

First Merchants pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. First Financial Bancorp. pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. First Merchants pays out 39.2% 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. First Financial Bancorp. is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer FRME or FFBC?

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.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First Merchants	Outperform Votes 353 59.73%	Underperform Votes 238 40.27%
First Financial Bancorp.	Outperform Votes 273 46.59%	Underperform Votes 313 53.41%

Is FRME or FFBC more profitable?

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.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Merchants	20.15%	10.21%	1.21%
First Financial Bancorp.	20.74%	11.22%	1.43%

Does the media favor FRME or FFBC?

In the previous week, First Financial Bancorp. had 6 more articles in the media than First Merchants. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for First Financial Bancorp. and 1 mentions for First Merchants. First Financial Bancorp.'s average media sentiment score of 0.63 beat First Merchants' score of 0.29 indicating that First Financial Bancorp. is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Merchants	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
First Financial Bancorp.	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, FRME or FFBC?

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.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Merchants	$999.49M	2.10	$223.79M	$3.47	10.31
First Financial Bancorp.	$1.12B	2.02	$255.86M	$2.48	9.54

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in FRME or FFBC?

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 insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility & risk, FRME or FFBC?

First Merchants has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Financial Bancorp. has a beta of 1.04, meaning that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

First Financial Bancorp. beats First Merchants on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.