First Merchants (FRME) Competitors

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

Do analysts rate FRME or BUSE?

First Merchants currently has a consensus price target of $48.25, indicating a potential upside of 15.93%. First Busey has a consensus price target of $27.17, indicating a potential upside of 10.03%. Given First Merchants' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe First Merchants is more favorable than First Busey.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Merchants	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
First Busey	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Is FRME or BUSE more profitable?

First Merchants has a net margin of 21.35% compared to First Busey's net margin of 9.48%. First Merchants' return on equity of 9.88% beat First Busey's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Merchants	21.35%	9.88%	1.23%
First Busey	9.48%	8.76%	1.04%

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, FRME or BUSE?

First Merchants has higher revenue and earnings than First Busey. First Merchants 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
First Merchants	$1.07B	2.24	$201.40M	$3.86	10.78
First Busey	$663.36M	3.32	$113.69M	$1.12	22.04

Is FRME or BUSE a better dividend stock?

First Merchants pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. First Busey pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. First Merchants pays out 37.3% 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. First Merchants has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years and First Busey has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years.

Which has more risk & volatility, FRME or BUSE?

First Merchants has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Busey has a beta of 0.81, suggesting that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer FRME or BUSE?

In the previous week, First Busey had 7 more articles in the media than First Merchants. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for First Busey and 9 mentions for First Merchants. First Merchants' average media sentiment score of 1.60 beat First Busey's score of 1.59 indicating that First Merchants is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Merchants	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
First Busey	15 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of FRME or BUSE?

73.9% of First Merchants shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of First Busey shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of First Merchants shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of First Busey shares are owned by company 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.

Summary

First Merchants beats First Busey on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.