Hancock Whitney (HWC) Competitors

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

Which has more volatility & risk, HWC or CFG?

Hancock Whitney has a beta of 1.05, suggesting that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Citizens Financial Group has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, HWC or CFG?

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
Hancock Whitney	$2.06B	2.54	$460.82M	$5.42	11.27
Citizens Financial Group	$12.36B	1.69	$1.51B	$3.15	15.15

Is HWC or CFG a better dividend stock?

Hancock Whitney pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Citizens Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Hancock Whitney pays out 33.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Citizens Financial Group pays out 53.3% 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. Hancock Whitney has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Does the media prefer HWC or CFG?

In the previous week, Citizens Financial Group had 18 more articles in the media than Hancock Whitney. MarketBeat recorded 26 mentions for Citizens Financial Group and 8 mentions for Hancock Whitney. Hancock Whitney's average media sentiment score of 0.95 beat Citizens Financial Group's score of 0.95 indicating that Hancock Whitney is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Hancock Whitney	2 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Citizens Financial Group	15 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is HWC or CFG more profitable?

Hancock Whitney has a net margin of 23.15% compared to Citizens Financial Group's net margin of 12.76%. Hancock Whitney's return on equity of 11.43% beat Citizens Financial Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hancock Whitney	23.15%	11.43%	1.34%
Citizens Financial Group	12.76%	6.84%	0.70%

Do analysts recommend HWC or CFG?

Hancock Whitney presently has a consensus price target of $63.29, indicating a potential upside of 3.58%. Citizens Financial Group has a consensus price target of $48.68, indicating a potential upside of 2.02%. Given Hancock Whitney's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Hancock Whitney is more favorable than Citizens Financial Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hancock Whitney	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Citizens Financial Group	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.72

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in HWC or CFG?

81.2% of Hancock Whitney shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.9% of Citizens Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Hancock Whitney shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Citizens Financial Group shares are owned by company 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

Hancock Whitney beats Citizens Financial Group on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.