HFWA vs. GCBC, SMBC, HBCP, BHLB, PCSB, CBU, CVBF, BOH, SFNC, and INDB
Should you be buying Heritage Financial stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Heritage Financial include Greene County Bancorp (GCBC), Southern Missouri Bancorp (SMBC), Home Bancorp (HBCP), Berkshire Hills Bancorp (BHLB), PCSB Financial (PCSB), Community Bank System (CBU), CVB Financial (CVBF), Bank of Hawaii (BOH), Simmons First National (SFNC), and Independent Bank (INDB). These companies are all part of the "finance" sector.
Greene County Bancorp (NASDAQ:GCBC) and Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, media sentiment, profitability, community ranking and earnings.
Heritage Financial received 211 more outperform votes than Greene County Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 58.22% of users gave Heritage Financial an outperform vote while only 52.59% of users gave Greene County Bancorp an outperform vote.
Heritage Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Greene County Bancorp. Heritage Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Greene County Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
In the previous week, Greene County Bancorp had 2 more articles in the media than Heritage Financial. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Greene County Bancorp and 2 mentions for Heritage Financial. Greene County Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.87 beat Heritage Financial's score of 0.69 indicating that Heritage Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
13.4% of Greene County Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.3% of Heritage Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 5.1% of Greene County Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Heritage Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Greene County Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Heritage Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. Greene County Bancorp pays out 22.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Heritage Financial pays out 69.2% 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. Greene County Bancorp has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years and Heritage Financial has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Heritage Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Greene County Bancorp has a beta of 0.41, suggesting that its share price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Heritage Financial has a beta of 0.56, suggesting that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Heritage Financial has a consensus target price of $22.25, indicating a potential upside of 23.68%. Given Greene County Bancorp's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Heritage Financial is more favorable than Greene County Bancorp.
Greene County Bancorp has a net margin of 21.65% compared to Greene County Bancorp's net margin of 15.70%. Heritage Financial's return on equity of 12.86% beat Greene County Bancorp's return on equity.
Summary
Heritage Financial beats Greene County 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 HFWA and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This 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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