BancFirst (BANF) Competitors

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) and First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, media sentiment, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in BANF or BUSE?

51.7% of BancFirst shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of First Busey shares are held by institutional investors. 32.4% of BancFirst 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 large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer BANF or BUSE?

In the previous week, First Busey had 8 more articles in the media than BancFirst. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for First Busey and 2 mentions for BancFirst. First Busey's average media sentiment score of 1.00 beat BancFirst's score of 0.12 indicating that First Busey is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
BancFirst	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
First Busey	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer BANF or BUSE?

BancFirst currently has a consensus target price of $134.00, suggesting a potential upside of 3.69%. First Busey has a consensus target price of $27.33, suggesting a potential upside of 11.34%. Given First Busey's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe First Busey is more favorable than BancFirst.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BancFirst	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	0 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

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, BANF or BUSE?

BancFirst has higher revenue and earnings than First Busey. BancFirst 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
BancFirst	$908.71M	4.74	$216.35M	$6.95	18.59
First Busey	$663.36M	3.30	$113.69M	$1.12	21.92

Is BANF or BUSE more profitable?

BancFirst has a net margin of 24.94% compared to First Busey's net margin of 9.48%. BancFirst's return on equity of 14.16% beat First Busey's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BancFirst	24.94%	14.16%	1.70%
First Busey	9.48%	8.76%	1.04%

Which has more volatility and risk, BANF or BUSE?

BancFirst has a beta of 0.79, suggesting that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Busey has a beta of 0.82, suggesting that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is BANF or BUSE a better dividend stock?

BancFirst pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. First Busey pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. BancFirst pays out 26.5% 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. BancFirst has raised its dividend for 31 consecutive years and First Busey has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years.

Summary

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