Amalgamated Financial (AMAL) Competitors

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) and Amalgamated Financial (NASDAQ:AMAL) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, media sentiment, risk, earnings, dividends, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Which has more risk and volatility, BUSE or AMAL?

First Busey has a beta of 0.81, suggesting that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amalgamated Financial has a beta of 0.89, suggesting that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, BUSE or AMAL?

First Busey has higher revenue and earnings than Amalgamated Financial. Amalgamated Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Busey, 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 Busey	$663.36M	3.08	$113.69M	$1.12	20.45
Amalgamated Financial	$434.51M	2.01	$106.43M	$3.34	8.69

Is BUSE or AMAL more profitable?

Amalgamated Financial has a net margin of 23.60% compared to First Busey's net margin of 9.48%. Amalgamated Financial's return on equity of 15.21% beat First Busey's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Busey	9.48%	8.76%	1.04%
Amalgamated Financial	23.60%	15.21%	1.31%

Do analysts recommend BUSE or AMAL?

First Busey presently has a consensus target price of $27.17, indicating a potential upside of 18.61%. Amalgamated Financial has a consensus target price of $33.00, indicating a potential upside of 13.73%. Given First Busey's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe First Busey is more favorable than Amalgamated Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Busey	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Amalgamated Financial	1 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of BUSE or AMAL?

56.5% of First Busey shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.9% of Amalgamated Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.9% of First Busey shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Amalgamated Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer BUSE or AMAL?

In the previous week, Amalgamated Financial had 4 more articles in the media than First Busey. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Amalgamated Financial and 4 mentions for First Busey. First Busey's average media sentiment score of 1.12 beat Amalgamated Financial's score of 0.27 indicating that First Busey is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Busey	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Amalgamated Financial	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is BUSE or AMAL a better dividend stock?

First Busey pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Amalgamated Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. First Busey pays out 89.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Amalgamated Financial pays out 16.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Busey has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years and Amalgamated Financial has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. First Busey is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

First Busey beats Amalgamated Financial on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.