First Mid Bancshares (FMBH) Competitors

First Mid Bancshares (NASDAQ:FMBH) and United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCB) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, media sentiment, valuation, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, community ranking, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer FMBH or UCB?

First Mid Bancshares received 189 more outperform votes than United Community Banks when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 52.16% of users gave First Mid Bancshares an outperform vote while only 40.00% of users gave United Community Banks an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First Mid Bancshares	Outperform Votes 193 52.16%	Underperform Votes 177 47.84%
United Community Banks	Outperform Votes 4 40.00%	Underperform Votes 6 60.00%

Is FMBH or UCB more profitable?

First Mid Bancshares has a net margin of 17.39% compared to United Community Banks' net margin of 16.48%. First Mid Bancshares' return on equity of 10.10% beat United Community Banks' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Mid Bancshares	17.39%	10.10%	1.09%
United Community Banks	16.48%	8.64%	1.04%

Is FMBH or UCB a better dividend stock?

First Mid Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. United Community Banks pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. First Mid Bancshares pays out 28.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. United Community Banks pays out 45.5% 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 Mid Bancshares has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Do analysts recommend FMBH or UCB?

First Mid Bancshares currently has a consensus target price of $43.83, indicating a potential upside of 23.54%. United Community Banks has a consensus target price of $33.14, indicating a potential upside of 16.15%. Given First Mid Bancshares' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe First Mid Bancshares is more favorable than United Community Banks.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Mid Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
United Community Banks	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.57

Does the media prefer FMBH or UCB?

In the previous week, United Community Banks had 10 more articles in the media than First Mid Bancshares. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for United Community Banks and 2 mentions for First Mid Bancshares. United Community Banks' average media sentiment score of 1.30 beat First Mid Bancshares' score of 1.05 indicating that United Community Banks is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Mid Bancshares	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
United Community Banks	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better earnings and valuation, FMBH or UCB?

United Community Banks has higher revenue and earnings than First Mid Bancshares. First Mid Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than United Community Banks, 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 Mid Bancshares	$322.32M	2.64	$78.90M	$3.36	10.56
United Community Banks	$938.98M	3.63	$252.40M	$2.11	13.52

Do insiders & institutionals believe in FMBH or UCB?

47.6% of First Mid Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.3% of United Community Banks shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.7% of First Mid Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of United Community Banks shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility and risk, FMBH or UCB?

First Mid Bancshares has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Community Banks has a beta of 0.75, indicating that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

First Mid Bancshares beats United Community Banks on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.