Heritage Commerce (HTBK) Competitors

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

Which has better valuation and earnings, BUSE or HTBK?

First Busey has higher revenue and earnings than Heritage Commerce. Heritage Commerce 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 Busey	$663.36M	3.13	$113.69M	$1.12	20.82
Heritage Commerce	$251.45M	2.40	$40.53M	$0.63	15.60

Do analysts recommend BUSE or HTBK?

First Busey presently has a consensus target price of $27.33, indicating a potential upside of 17.21%. Heritage Commerce has a consensus target price of $10.75, indicating a potential upside of 9.36%. Given First Busey's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe First Busey is more favorable than Heritage Commerce.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Busey	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.43
Heritage Commerce	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in BUSE or HTBK?

56.5% of First Busey shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.6% of Heritage Commerce shares are held by institutional investors. 3.9% of First Busey shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.7% of Heritage Commerce shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is BUSE or HTBK more profitable?

Heritage Commerce has a net margin of 15.00% compared to First Busey's net margin of 9.48%. First Busey's return on equity of 8.76% beat Heritage Commerce's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Busey	9.48%	8.76%	1.04%
Heritage Commerce	15.00%	6.61%	0.82%

Is BUSE or HTBK a better dividend stock?

First Busey pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Heritage Commerce pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. 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. Heritage Commerce pays out 82.5% 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 Busey has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years. Heritage Commerce is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media favor BUSE or HTBK?

In the previous week, Heritage Commerce had 5 more articles in the media than First Busey. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Heritage Commerce and 8 mentions for First Busey. First Busey's average media sentiment score of 0.53 beat Heritage Commerce's score of 0.32 indicating that First Busey is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Busey	0 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Heritage Commerce	2 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has more volatility and risk, BUSE or HTBK?

First Busey has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Heritage Commerce has a beta of 0.85, indicating that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

First Busey beats Heritage Commerce on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.