Amalgamated Financial (AMAL) Competitors

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

Is AMAL or BUSE a better dividend stock?

Amalgamated Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. First Busey pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Amalgamated Financial pays out 16.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. 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 has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years and First Busey has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years. First Busey is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, AMAL or BUSE?

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
Amalgamated Financial	$434.51M	1.92	$106.43M	$3.34	8.29
First Busey	$663.36M	3.26	$113.69M	$1.12	21.69

Is AMAL or BUSE 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
Amalgamated Financial	23.60%	15.21%	1.31%
First Busey	9.48%	8.76%	1.04%

Which has more volatility and risk, AMAL or BUSE?

Amalgamated Financial has a beta of 0.92, indicating that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Busey has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to AMAL or BUSE?

In the previous week, First Busey had 9 more articles in the media than Amalgamated Financial. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for First Busey and 0 mentions for Amalgamated Financial. Amalgamated Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.76 beat First Busey's score of 0.76 indicating that Amalgamated Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Amalgamated Financial	Very Positive
First Busey	Positive

Do analysts rate AMAL or BUSE?

Amalgamated Financial presently has a consensus target price of $33.00, indicating a potential upside of 19.11%. First Busey has a consensus target price of $27.33, indicating a potential upside of 12.54%. Given Amalgamated Financial's higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Amalgamated Financial is more favorable than First Busey.

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

Do institutionals and insiders believe in AMAL or BUSE?

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

Summary

First Busey beats Amalgamated Financial on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.