First Bancorp (FNLC) Competitors

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) and First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNLC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, community ranking, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, institutional ownership, earnings and risk.

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in PEBO or FNLC?

60.7% of Peoples Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 40.4% of First Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.4% of Peoples Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.1% of First Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has better earnings and valuation, PEBO or FNLC?

Peoples Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than First Bancorp. Peoples Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Bancorp, 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
Peoples Bancorp	$444.62M	2.35	$117.21M	$3.15	9.31
First Bancorp	$83.53M	3.29	$27.05M	$2.51	9.77

Do analysts recommend PEBO or FNLC?

Peoples Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $36.00, indicating a potential upside of 22.72%. Given Peoples Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Peoples Bancorp is more favorable than First Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Peoples Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
First Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Does the media favor PEBO or FNLC?

In the previous week, Peoples Bancorp had 8 more articles in the media than First Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Peoples Bancorp and 7 mentions for First Bancorp. First Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.42 beat Peoples Bancorp's score of 0.56 indicating that First Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Peoples Bancorp	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
First Bancorp	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, PEBO or FNLC?

Peoples Bancorp has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Bancorp has a beta of 0.48, indicating that its share price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is PEBO or FNLC a better dividend stock?

Peoples Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. First Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.9%. Peoples Bancorp pays out 52.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Bancorp pays out 57.4% 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.

Is PEBO or FNLC more profitable?

Peoples Bancorp has a net margin of 18.90% compared to First Bancorp's net margin of 16.37%. Peoples Bancorp's return on equity of 11.07% beat First Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Peoples Bancorp	18.90%	11.07%	1.31%
First Bancorp	16.37%	10.90%	0.88%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer PEBO or FNLC?

Peoples Bancorp received 84 more outperform votes than First Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 62.30% of users gave First Bancorp an outperform vote while only 56.03% of users gave Peoples Bancorp an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Peoples Bancorp	Outperform Votes 274 56.03%	Underperform Votes 215 43.97%
First Bancorp	Outperform Votes 190 62.30%	Underperform Votes 115 37.70%

Summary

Peoples Bancorp beats First Bancorp on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.