Stock Yards Bancorp (SYBT) Competitors

First Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBNC) and Stock Yards Bancorp (NASDAQ:SYBT) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, community ranking, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, media sentiment and risk.

Do insiders and institutionals believe in FBNC or SYBT?

68.4% of First Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of Stock Yards Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.7% of First Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of Stock Yards Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is FBNC or SYBT more profitable?

Stock Yards Bancorp has a net margin of 24.54% compared to Stock Yards Bancorp's net margin of 19.06%. First Bancorp's return on equity of 13.20% beat Stock Yards Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Bancorp	19.06%	7.97%	0.86%
Stock Yards Bancorp	24.54%	13.20%	1.37%

Is FBNC or SYBT a better dividend stock?

First Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Stock Yards Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. First Bancorp pays out 34.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Stock Yards Bancorp pays out 32.7% 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. Stock Yards Bancorp has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years.

Do analysts rate FBNC or SYBT?

First Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $33.00, indicating a potential downside of 4.35%. Stock Yards Bancorp has a consensus price target of $48.00, indicating a potential downside of 0.23%. Given First Bancorp's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Stock Yards Bancorp is more favorable than First Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Stock Yards Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, FBNC or SYBT?

Stock Yards Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than First Bancorp. Stock Yards Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Bancorp, 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 Bancorp	$404.30M	3.51	$104.13M	$2.53	13.64
Stock Yards Bancorp	$438.92M	3.22	$107.75M	$3.67	13.11

Does the media prefer FBNC or SYBT?

In the previous week, Stock Yards Bancorp had 1 more articles in the media than First Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Stock Yards Bancorp and 6 mentions for First Bancorp. Stock Yards Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.51 beat First Bancorp's score of 0.39 indicating that First Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Bancorp	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Stock Yards Bancorp	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in FBNC or SYBT?

First Bancorp received 191 more outperform votes than Stock Yards Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.22% of users gave First Bancorp an outperform vote while only 54.20% of users gave Stock Yards Bancorp an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First Bancorp	Outperform Votes 404 63.22%	Underperform Votes 235 36.78%
Stock Yards Bancorp	Outperform Votes 213 54.20%	Underperform Votes 180 45.80%

Which has more volatility & risk, FBNC or SYBT?

First Bancorp has a beta of 1, meaning that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Stock Yards Bancorp has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Stock Yards Bancorp beats First Bancorp on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.