WBS vs. EWBC, FITB, HWC, PNFP, WTFC, ASB, CFG, FNB, RF, and SNV
Should you be buying Webster Financial stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Webster Financial include East West Bancorp (EWBC), Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB), Hancock Whitney (HWC), Pinnacle Financial Partners (PNFP), Wintrust Financial (WTFC), Associated Banc (ASB), Citizens Financial Group (CFG), F.N.B. (FNB), Regions Financial (RF), and Synovus Financial (SNV). These companies are all part of the "finance" sector.
Webster Financial vs. Its Competitors
Webster Financial (NYSE:WBS) and East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, media sentiment, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings and risk.
Webster Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. East West Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Webster Financial pays out 32.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. East West Bancorp pays out 28.0% 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. East West Bancorp has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years.
85.6% of Webster Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.5% of East West Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Webster Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of East West Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Webster Financial currently has a consensus price target of $66.77, indicating a potential upside of 15.34%. East West Bancorp has a consensus price target of $114.15, indicating a potential upside of 13.35%. Given Webster Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Webster Financial is more favorable than East West Bancorp.
Webster Financial has a beta of 1, meaning that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, East West Bancorp has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.
East West Bancorp has a net margin of 26.06% compared to Webster Financial's net margin of 20.06%. East West Bancorp's return on equity of 15.09% beat Webster Financial's return on equity.
East West Bancorp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Webster Financial. Webster Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than East West Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
In the previous week, East West Bancorp had 7 more articles in the media than Webster Financial. MarketBeat recorded 22 mentions for East West Bancorp and 15 mentions for Webster Financial. East West Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.90 beat Webster Financial's score of 0.65 indicating that East West Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Summary
East West Bancorp beats Webster Financial on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding WBS and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
Webster Financial Competitors List
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This page (NYSE:WBS) was last updated on 7/31/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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