Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (SBCF) Competitors

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) and Webster Financial (NYSE:WBS) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, community ranking, analyst recommendations, risk and media sentiment.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, SBCF or WBS?

Webster Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida. Webster Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida, 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
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	$530.52M	4.00	$120.99M	$1.49	16.58
Webster Financial	$2.62B	3.26	$768.71M	$4.44	11.42

Does the media prefer SBCF or WBS?

In the previous week, Webster Financial had 14 more articles in the media than Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida. MarketBeat recorded 20 mentions for Webster Financial and 6 mentions for Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida. Webster Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.38 beat Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida's score of 0.87 indicating that Webster Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Webster Financial	14 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer SBCF or WBS?

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida currently has a consensus price target of $29.40, indicating a potential upside of 19.03%. Webster Financial has a consensus price target of $63.75, indicating a potential upside of 25.76%. Given Webster Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Webster Financial is more favorable than Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40
Webster Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.91

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in SBCF or WBS?

Webster Financial received 241 more outperform votes than Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 58.91% of users gave Webster Financial an outperform vote while only 58.90% of users gave Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	Outperform Votes 301 58.90%	Underperform Votes 210 41.10%
Webster Financial	Outperform Votes 542 58.91%	Underperform Votes 378 41.09%

Is SBCF or WBS more profitable?

Webster Financial has a net margin of 18.39% compared to Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida's net margin of 14.95%. Webster Financial's return on equity of 10.82% beat Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	14.95%	5.91%	0.85%
Webster Financial	18.39%	10.82%	1.21%

Which has more risk & volatility, SBCF or WBS?

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Webster Financial has a beta of 0.98, meaning that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in SBCF or WBS?

81.8% of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.6% of Webster Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.6% of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Webster Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is SBCF or WBS a better dividend stock?

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Webster Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida pays out 48.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Webster Financial pays out 36.0% 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. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Webster Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Webster Financial beats Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida on 18 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.