United Community Banks (UCBI) Competitors

First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) and United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCBI) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, media sentiment, profitability, analyst recommendations, community ranking, valuation, earnings and risk.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in FBP or UCBI?

97.9% of First BanCorp. shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.3% of United Community Banks shares are held by institutional investors. 2.5% of First BanCorp. shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of United Community Banks shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts recommend FBP or UCBI?

First BanCorp. currently has a consensus target price of $18.00, suggesting a potential downside of 0.50%. United Community Banks has a consensus target price of $30.60, suggesting a potential upside of 13.50%. Given First BanCorp.'s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe United Community Banks 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)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
United Community Banks	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Is FBP or UCBI a better dividend stock?

First BanCorp. pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. United Community Banks pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. First BanCorp. pays out 36.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. United Community Banks pays out 59.7% 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. First BanCorp. has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years and United Community Banks has raised its dividend for 9 consecutive years. First BanCorp. is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Is FBP or UCBI more profitable?

First BanCorp. has a net margin of 25.82% compared to First BanCorp.'s net margin of 13.62%. United Community Banks' return on equity of 21.58% beat First BanCorp.'s return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First BanCorp.	25.82%	21.58%	1.62%
United Community Banks	13.62%	8.02%	0.93%

Does the media favor FBP or UCBI?

In the previous week, First BanCorp. and First BanCorp. both had 3 articles in the media. United Community Banks' average media sentiment score of 0.83 beat First BanCorp.'s score of 0.74 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.	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
United Community Banks	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility and risk, FBP or UCBI?

First BanCorp. has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Community Banks has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer FBP or UCBI?

United Community Banks received 24 more outperform votes than First BanCorp. when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 61.26% of users gave First BanCorp. an outperform vote while only 56.43% of users gave United Community Banks an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First BanCorp.	Outperform Votes 283 61.26%	Underperform Votes 179 38.74%
United Community Banks	Outperform Votes 307 56.43%	Underperform Votes 237 43.57%

Which has better earnings and valuation, FBP or UCBI?

First BanCorp. has higher earnings, but lower revenue than United Community Banks. First BanCorp. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than United Community Banks, 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.	$893.67M	3.43	$302.86M	$1.75	10.34
United Community Banks	$1.31B	2.45	$187.54M	$1.54	17.51

Summary

First BanCorp. beats United Community Banks on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.