First National (FXNC) Competitors

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) and First National (NASDAQ:FXNC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, media sentiment, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and profitability.

Is HBT or FXNC a better dividend stock?

HBT Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. First National pays an annual dividend of $0.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. HBT Financial pays out 34.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First National pays out 62.0% 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. HBT Financial has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years and First National has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years. HBT Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do analysts rate HBT or FXNC?

HBT Financial currently has a consensus target price of $28.80, suggesting a potential upside of 10.98%. First National has a consensus target price of $28.50, suggesting a potential upside of 23.81%. Given First National's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe First National is more favorable than HBT Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HBT Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
First National	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Do insiders & institutionals believe in HBT or FXNC?

78.6% of HBT Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.9% of First National shares are held by institutional investors. 59.8% of HBT Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.3% of First National shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is HBT or FXNC more profitable?

HBT Financial has a net margin of 26.22% compared to First National's net margin of 7.29%. HBT Financial's return on equity of 13.98% beat First National's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HBT Financial	26.22%	13.98%	1.55%
First National	7.29%	10.53%	0.89%

Which has more risk and volatility, HBT or FXNC?

HBT Financial has a beta of 0.66, indicating that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First National has a beta of 0.54, indicating that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor HBT or FXNC?

In the previous week, HBT Financial had 1 more articles in the media than First National. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for HBT Financial and 1 mentions for First National. First National's average media sentiment score of 1.47 beat HBT Financial's score of 0.79 indicating that First National is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
HBT Financial	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
First National	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has higher valuation and earnings, HBT or FXNC?

HBT Financial has higher revenue and earnings than First National. HBT Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First National, 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
HBT Financial	$287.27M	2.85	$71.78M	$2.42	10.72
First National	$92.70M	2.23	$6.97M	$1.00	23.02

Summary

HBT Financial beats First National on 15 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.