HFF (HF) Competitors

HFF (NYSE:HF) and Eastern Bankshares (NASDAQ:EBC) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, earnings, valuation, media sentiment, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in HF or EBC?

85.8% of HFF shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.7% of Eastern Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. 4.9% of HFF shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Eastern Bankshares shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor HF or EBC?

In the previous week, Eastern Bankshares had 3 more articles in the media than HFF. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Eastern Bankshares and 0 mentions for HFF. Eastern Bankshares' average media sentiment score of 1.22 beat HFF's score of 0.00 indicating that Eastern Bankshares is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
HFF	Neutral
Eastern Bankshares	Positive

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, HF or EBC?

Eastern Bankshares has higher revenue and earnings than HFF. Eastern Bankshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than HFF, 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
HFF	$662.04M	1.22	$115.99M	$2.88	7.07
Eastern Bankshares	$1.09B	3.01	$119.56M	-$0.65	-23.56

Which has more risk & volatility, HF or EBC?

HFF has a beta of 1.59, meaning that its share price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Eastern Bankshares has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is HF or EBC more profitable?

HFF has a net margin of 18.38% compared to Eastern Bankshares' net margin of -15.56%. HFF's return on equity of 41.56% beat Eastern Bankshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HFF	18.38%	41.56%	12.58%
Eastern Bankshares	-15.56%	6.42%	0.91%

Do analysts recommend HF or EBC?

Eastern Bankshares has a consensus price target of $19.25, indicating a potential upside of 25.73%. Given Eastern Bankshares' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Eastern Bankshares is more favorable than HFF.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HFF	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Eastern Bankshares	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Summary

HFF and Eastern Bankshares tied by winning 8 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.