Southside Bancshares (SBSI) Competitors

Southside Bancshares (NASDAQ:SBSI) and First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, risk, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership and valuation.

Do analysts prefer SBSI or FRME?

Southside Bancshares currently has a consensus price target of $35.00, suggesting a potential upside of 14.51%. First Merchants has a consensus price target of $48.25, suggesting a potential upside of 22.03%. Given First Merchants' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe First Merchants is more favorable than Southside Bancshares.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Southside Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
First Merchants	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is SBSI or FRME a better dividend stock?

Southside Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. First Merchants pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Southside Bancshares pays out 51.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Merchants pays out 37.3% 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. Southside Bancshares has raised its dividend for 30 consecutive years and First Merchants has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Southside Bancshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, SBSI or FRME?

First Merchants has higher revenue and earnings than Southside Bancshares. First Merchants is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southside 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
Southside Bancshares	$260.02M	3.54	$88.49M	$2.82	10.84
First Merchants	$1.07B	2.13	$201.40M	$3.86	10.24

Do institutionals and insiders believe in SBSI or FRME?

55.7% of Southside Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.9% of First Merchants shares are held by institutional investors. 6.0% of Southside Bancshares shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of First Merchants shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer SBSI or FRME?

In the previous week, Southside Bancshares and Southside Bancshares both had 2 articles in the media. First Merchants' average media sentiment score of 1.82 beat Southside Bancshares' score of 0.53 indicating that First Merchants is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Southside Bancshares	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
First Merchants	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Is SBSI or FRME more profitable?

First Merchants has a net margin of 21.35% compared to Southside Bancshares' net margin of 19.40%. Southside Bancshares' return on equity of 11.10% beat First Merchants' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Southside Bancshares	19.40%	11.10%	1.06%
First Merchants	21.35%	9.88%	1.23%

Which has more risk & volatility, SBSI or FRME?

Southside Bancshares has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Merchants has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

First Merchants beats Southside Bancshares on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.