Hancock Whitney (HWC) Competitors

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) and Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, media sentiment, institutional ownership, earnings, community ranking, valuation and profitability.

Do insiders and institutionals believe in CFG or HWC?

94.9% of Citizens Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.2% of Hancock Whitney shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Citizens Financial Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Hancock Whitney shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is CFG or HWC more profitable?

Hancock Whitney has a net margin of 22.40% compared to Citizens Financial Group's net margin of 12.21%. Hancock Whitney's return on equity of 11.56% beat Citizens Financial Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Citizens Financial Group	12.21%	6.75%	0.68%
Hancock Whitney	22.40%	11.56%	1.32%

Do analysts recommend CFG or HWC?

Citizens Financial Group presently has a consensus target price of $46.18, suggesting a potential upside of 23.61%. Hancock Whitney has a consensus target price of $60.56, suggesting a potential upside of 15.07%. Given Citizens Financial Group's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Citizens Financial Group is more favorable than Hancock Whitney.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Citizens Financial Group	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.63
Hancock Whitney	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.89

Does the media prefer CFG or HWC?

In the previous week, Citizens Financial Group had 6 more articles in the media than Hancock Whitney. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for Citizens Financial Group and 12 mentions for Hancock Whitney. Hancock Whitney's average media sentiment score of 1.42 beat Citizens Financial Group's score of 1.19 indicating that Hancock Whitney is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Citizens Financial Group	13 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Hancock Whitney	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, CFG or HWC?

Citizens Financial Group has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hancock Whitney has a beta of 0.99, indicating that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in CFG or HWC?

Citizens Financial Group received 477 more outperform votes than Hancock Whitney when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.70% of users gave Citizens Financial Group an outperform vote while only 50.38% of users gave Hancock Whitney an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Citizens Financial Group	Outperform Votes 543 61.70%	Underperform Votes 337 38.30%
Hancock Whitney	Outperform Votes 66 50.38%	Underperform Votes 65 49.62%

Is CFG or HWC a better dividend stock?

Citizens Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. Hancock Whitney pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Citizens Financial Group pays out 53.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hancock Whitney pays out 33.2% 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.

Which has better earnings & valuation, CFG or HWC?

Citizens Financial Group has higher revenue and earnings than Hancock Whitney. Hancock Whitney is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Citizens Financial Group, 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
Citizens Financial Group	$7.77B	2.10	$1.51B	$3.15	11.86
Hancock Whitney	$1.45B	3.12	$460.82M	$5.42	9.71

Summary

Citizens Financial Group and Hancock Whitney tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.