Bank First (BFC) Competitors

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) and Bank First (NASDAQ:BFC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, community ranking, profitability, risk and dividends.

Does the media refer more to HWC or BFC?

In the previous week, Hancock Whitney had 24 more articles in the media than Bank First. MarketBeat recorded 30 mentions for Hancock Whitney and 6 mentions for Bank First. Bank First's average media sentiment score of 0.91 beat Hancock Whitney's score of 0.86 indicating that Bank First is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Hancock Whitney	14 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	5 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Bank First	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, HWC or BFC?

Hancock Whitney has a beta of 0.99, indicating that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bank First has a beta of 0.31, indicating that its share price is 69% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer HWC or BFC?

Hancock Whitney currently has a consensus target price of $60.56, suggesting a potential upside of 15.79%. Bank First has a consensus target price of $111.00, suggesting a potential downside of 0.29%. Given Hancock Whitney's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Hancock Whitney is more favorable than Bank First.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hancock Whitney	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.89
Bank First	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Is HWC or BFC a better dividend stock?

Hancock Whitney pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Bank First pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Hancock Whitney pays out 33.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Bank First pays out 26.4% 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.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer HWC or BFC?

Hancock Whitney received 52 more outperform votes than Bank First when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 50.38% of users gave Hancock Whitney an outperform vote while only 43.75% of users gave Bank First an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Hancock Whitney	Outperform Votes 66 50.38%	Underperform Votes 65 49.62%
Bank First	Outperform Votes 14 43.75%	Underperform Votes 18 56.25%

Is HWC or BFC more profitable?

Bank First has a net margin of 29.00% compared to Hancock Whitney's net margin of 22.40%. Hancock Whitney's return on equity of 11.56% beat Bank First's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hancock Whitney	22.40%	11.56%	1.32%
Bank First	29.00%	10.53%	1.56%

Which has better valuation and earnings, HWC or BFC?

Hancock Whitney has higher revenue and earnings than Bank First. Hancock Whitney is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bank First, 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
Hancock Whitney	$1.45B	3.10	$460.82M	$5.42	9.65
Bank First	$159.80M	6.96	$65.56M	$6.81	16.35

Do insiders and institutionals believe in HWC or BFC?

81.2% of Hancock Whitney shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.0% of Bank First shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Hancock Whitney shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.1% of Bank First shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Hancock Whitney beats Bank First on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.