First Citizens BancShares (FCNCA) Competitors

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

Is FCNCA or HWC more profitable?

Hancock Whitney has a net margin of 23.15% compared to First Citizens BancShares' net margin of 17.10%. First Citizens BancShares' return on equity of 11.98% beat Hancock Whitney's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Citizens BancShares	17.10%	11.98%	1.16%
Hancock Whitney	23.15%	11.43%	1.34%

Which has more risk and volatility, FCNCA or HWC?

First Citizens BancShares has a beta of 0.64, indicating that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hancock Whitney has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer FCNCA or HWC?

First Citizens BancShares presently has a consensus target price of $2,299.50, suggesting a potential upside of 7.67%. Hancock Whitney has a consensus target price of $63.29, suggesting a potential upside of 2.28%. Given First Citizens BancShares' higher possible upside, research analysts plainly 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)	5 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.62
Hancock Whitney	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

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 4.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hancock Whitney pays out 33.2% 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. First Citizens BancShares has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years and Hancock Whitney has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, FCNCA or HWC?

First Citizens BancShares has higher revenue and earnings than Hancock Whitney. Hancock Whitney is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Citizens BancShares, 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	1.90	$2.78B	$174.64	12.23
Hancock Whitney	$1.45B	3.66	$460.82M	$5.42	11.42

Does the media favor FCNCA or HWC?

In the previous week, First Citizens BancShares had 4 more articles in the media than Hancock Whitney. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for First Citizens BancShares and 8 mentions for Hancock Whitney. First Citizens BancShares' average media sentiment score of 1.09 beat Hancock Whitney's score of 0.77 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	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Hancock Whitney	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders & institutionals believe in FCNCA or HWC?

78.0% of First Citizens BancShares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.2% of Hancock Whitney shares are held by institutional investors. 13.4% of First Citizens BancShares shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Hancock Whitney shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

First Citizens BancShares beats Hancock Whitney on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.