First Citizens BancShares (FCNCA) Competitors

First Citizens BancShares (NASDAQ:FCNCA) and Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Is FCNCA or HWC more profitable?

Hancock Whitney has a net margin of 23.28% compared to First Citizens BancShares' net margin of 16.37%. First Citizens BancShares' return on equity of 11.32% beat Hancock Whitney's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Citizens BancShares	16.37%	11.32%	1.08%
Hancock Whitney	23.28%	11.21%	1.35%

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, FCNCA or HWC?

First Citizens BancShares has higher revenue and earnings than Hancock Whitney. First Citizens BancShares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hancock Whitney, 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 Citizens BancShares	$14.97B	1.65	$2.78B	$169.46	11.28
Hancock Whitney	$1.47B	3.65	$460.82M	$5.43	11.62

Which has more risk and volatility, FCNCA or HWC?

First Citizens BancShares has a beta of 0.71, meaning that its share price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hancock Whitney has a beta of 1.13, meaning that its share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is FCNCA or HWC a better dividend stock?

First Citizens BancShares pays an annual dividend of $7.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Hancock Whitney pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. First Citizens BancShares pays out 4.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hancock Whitney pays out 33.1% 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 Citizens BancShares has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years and Hancock Whitney has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in FCNCA or HWC?

78.0% of First Citizens BancShares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.2% of Hancock Whitney shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.2% of First Citizens BancShares shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Hancock Whitney shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer FCNCA or HWC?

In the previous week, First Citizens BancShares had 3 more articles in the media than Hancock Whitney. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for First Citizens BancShares and 9 mentions for Hancock Whitney. First Citizens BancShares' average media sentiment score of 1.67 beat Hancock Whitney's score of 1.16 indicating that First Citizens BancShares is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Citizens BancShares	11 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Hancock Whitney	6 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend FCNCA or HWC?

First Citizens BancShares presently has a consensus target price of $2,291.17, suggesting a potential upside of 19.91%. Hancock Whitney has a consensus target price of $68.25, suggesting a potential upside of 8.21%. Given First Citizens BancShares' higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe First Citizens BancShares is more favorable than Hancock Whitney.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Citizens BancShares	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.54
Hancock Whitney	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.88

Summary

First Citizens BancShares beats Hancock Whitney on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.