First Merchants (FRME) Competitors

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

Is FFBC or FRME more profitable?

First Financial Bancorp. has a net margin of 22.94% compared to First Financial Bancorp.'s net margin of 22.39%. First Merchants' return on equity of 12.16% beat First Financial Bancorp.'s return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Financial Bancorp.	22.94%	12.16%	1.54%
First Merchants	22.39%	10.97%	1.29%

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in FFBC or FRME?

77.2% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.9% of First Merchants shares are held by institutional investors. 2.1% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of First Merchants shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is FFBC or FRME a better dividend stock?

First Financial Bancorp. pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. First Merchants pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. First Financial Bancorp. pays out 34.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Merchants pays out 36.4% 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. First Merchants has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years. First Financial Bancorp. is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, FFBC or FRME?

First Financial Bancorp. has higher revenue and earnings than First Merchants. First Financial Bancorp. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Merchants, 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 Financial Bancorp.	$1.12B	1.88	$255.86M	$2.69	8.16
First Merchants	$999.49M	2.02	$223.79M	$3.74	9.09

Do analysts prefer FFBC or FRME?

First Financial Bancorp. currently has a consensus price target of $24.67, indicating a potential upside of 12.38%. First Merchants has a consensus price target of $38.00, indicating a potential upside of 11.80%. Given First Merchants' higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe First Financial Bancorp. is more favorable than First Merchants.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Financial Bancorp.	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
First Merchants	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer FFBC or FRME?

First Merchants received 79 more outperform votes than First Financial Bancorp. when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 59.86% of users gave First Merchants an outperform vote while only 46.59% of users gave First Financial Bancorp. an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First Financial Bancorp.	Outperform Votes 273 46.59%	Underperform Votes 313 53.41%
First Merchants	Outperform Votes 352 59.86%	Underperform Votes 236 40.14%

Does the media prefer FFBC or FRME?

In the previous week, First Merchants had 1 more articles in the media than First Financial Bancorp.. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for First Merchants and 2 mentions for First Financial Bancorp.. First Financial Bancorp.'s average media sentiment score of 0.42 beat First Merchants' score of 0.15 indicating that First Merchants is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Financial Bancorp.	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
First Merchants	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has more volatility & risk, FFBC or FRME?

First Financial Bancorp. has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Merchants has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

First Merchants beats First Financial Bancorp. on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.