Peoples Bancorp (PEBO) Competitors

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

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of PEBO or BUSE?

60.7% of Peoples Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of First Busey shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.4% of Peoples Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of First Busey shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts rate PEBO or BUSE?

Peoples Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $35.25, indicating a potential upside of 13.93%. First Busey has a consensus target price of $27.17, indicating a potential upside of 12.40%. Given Peoples Bancorp's higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Peoples Bancorp is more favorable than First Busey.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Peoples Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 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 PEBO or BUSE a better dividend stock?

Peoples Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. First Busey pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Peoples Bancorp pays out 56.2% 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. Peoples Bancorp has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years and First Busey has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years. Peoples Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Is PEBO or BUSE more profitable?

Peoples Bancorp has a net margin of 16.88% compared to First Busey's net margin of 9.48%. Peoples Bancorp's return on equity of 9.46% beat First Busey's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Peoples Bancorp	16.88%	9.46%	1.15%
First Busey	9.48%	8.76%	1.04%

Which has better valuation & earnings, PEBO or BUSE?

Peoples Bancorp has higher earnings, but lower revenue than First Busey. Peoples Bancorp 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
Peoples Bancorp	$447.24M	2.47	$117.21M	$2.92	10.60
First Busey	$663.36M	3.25	$113.69M	$1.12	21.58

Which has more volatility & risk, PEBO or BUSE?

Peoples Bancorp has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Busey has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer PEBO or BUSE?

In the previous week, First Busey had 7 more articles in the media than Peoples Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for First Busey and 1 mentions for Peoples Bancorp. Peoples Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.79 beat First Busey's score of 1.62 indicating that Peoples Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Peoples Bancorp	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
First Busey	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Summary

Peoples Bancorp beats First Busey on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.