HBT Financial (HBT) Competitors

HBT Financial (NASDAQ:HBT) and First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.

Is HBT or BUSE a better dividend stock?

HBT Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. First Busey pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. HBT Financial pays out 34.7% 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. HBT Financial has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years and First Busey has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years. First Busey is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, HBT or BUSE?

First Busey has higher revenue and earnings than HBT Financial. HBT Financial 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
HBT Financial	$287.27M	2.85	$71.78M	$2.42	10.74
First Busey	$663.36M	3.31	$113.69M	$1.12	21.99

Do analysts recommend HBT or BUSE?

HBT Financial currently has a consensus target price of $28.80, indicating a potential upside of 10.85%. First Busey has a consensus target price of $27.33, indicating a potential upside of 10.98%. Given First Busey's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe First Busey 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 Busey	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Is HBT or BUSE more profitable?

HBT Financial has a net margin of 26.22% compared to First Busey's net margin of 9.48%. HBT Financial's return on equity of 13.98% beat First Busey's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HBT Financial	26.22%	13.98%	1.55%
First Busey	9.48%	8.76%	1.04%

Does the media prefer HBT or BUSE?

In the previous week, First Busey had 5 more articles in the media than HBT Financial. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for First Busey and 4 mentions for HBT Financial. First Busey's average media sentiment score of 1.77 beat HBT Financial's score of 1.65 indicating that First Busey is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
HBT Financial	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
First Busey	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, HBT or BUSE?

HBT Financial has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Busey has a beta of 0.82, suggesting that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

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

78.6% of HBT Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of First Busey shares are held by institutional investors. 59.7% of HBT Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of First Busey shares are held 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.

Summary

First Busey beats HBT Financial on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.