Northwest Bancshares (NWBI) Competitors

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) and Northwest Bancshares (NASDAQ:NWBI) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and media sentiment.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of FFBC or NWBI?

77.2% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.3% of Northwest Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Northwest Bancshares shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is FFBC or NWBI more profitable?

First Financial Bancorp. has a net margin of 19.41% compared to Northwest Bancshares' net margin of 17.47%. First Financial Bancorp.'s return on equity of 10.57% beat Northwest Bancshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Financial Bancorp.	19.41%	10.57%	1.42%
Northwest Bancshares	17.47%	9.34%	1.05%

Do analysts prefer FFBC or NWBI?

First Financial Bancorp. presently has a consensus target price of $29.40, indicating a potential upside of 13.25%. Northwest Bancshares has a consensus target price of $15.00, indicating a potential upside of 19.81%. Given Northwest Bancshares' higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Northwest Bancshares is more favorable than First Financial Bancorp..

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Financial Bancorp.	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40
Northwest Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Which has more volatility and risk, FFBC or NWBI?

First Financial Bancorp. has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Northwest Bancshares has a beta of 0.73, suggesting that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better valuation and earnings, FFBC or NWBI?

First Financial Bancorp. has higher revenue and earnings than Northwest Bancshares. First Financial Bancorp. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Northwest Bancshares, 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 Financial Bancorp.	$1.62B	1.53	$228.83M	$2.50	10.38
Northwest Bancshares	$756.21M	2.42	$100.28M	$1.12	11.18

Does the media favor FFBC or NWBI?

In the previous week, First Financial Bancorp. had 6 more articles in the media than Northwest Bancshares. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for First Financial Bancorp. and 1 mentions for Northwest Bancshares. Northwest Bancshares' average media sentiment score of 1.89 beat First Financial Bancorp.'s score of 1.02 indicating that Northwest Bancshares is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
First Financial Bancorp.	Positive
Northwest Bancshares	Very Positive

Is FFBC or NWBI a better dividend stock?

First Financial Bancorp. pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Northwest Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.4%. First Financial Bancorp. pays out 40.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Northwest Bancshares pays out 71.4% 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. First Financial Bancorp. has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Summary

First Financial Bancorp. beats Northwest Bancshares on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.