Capital City Bank Group (CCBG) Competitors

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) and Capital City Bank Group (NASDAQ:CCBG) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, risk, valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, community ranking and analyst recommendations.

Is FRME or CCBG a better dividend stock?

First Merchants pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Capital City Bank Group pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. First Merchants pays out 46.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Capital City Bank Group pays out 30.2% 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 Merchants has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. First Merchants is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, FRME or CCBG?

First Merchants has higher revenue and earnings than Capital City Bank Group. Capital City Bank Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Merchants, 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 Merchants	$999.49M	2.39	$223.79M	$3.03	13.45
Capital City Bank Group	$252.68M	2.44	$52.26M	$3.05	11.94

Which has more risk and volatility, FRME or CCBG?

First Merchants has a beta of 1.06, suggesting that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Capital City Bank Group has a beta of 0.56, suggesting that its stock price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer FRME or CCBG?

First Merchants presently has a consensus target price of $42.60, suggesting a potential upside of 4.51%. Capital City Bank Group has a consensus target price of $37.88, suggesting a potential upside of 4.00%. Given First Merchants' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe First Merchants is more favorable than Capital City Bank Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Merchants	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60
Capital City Bank Group	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Is FRME or CCBG more profitable?

Capital City Bank Group has a net margin of 19.42% compared to First Merchants' net margin of 16.94%. Capital City Bank Group's return on equity of 11.29% beat First Merchants' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Merchants	16.94%	8.94%	1.08%
Capital City Bank Group	19.42%	11.29%	1.21%

Do institutionals and insiders believe in FRME or CCBG?

73.9% of First Merchants shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.6% of Capital City Bank Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of First Merchants shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.4% of Capital City Bank Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media prefer FRME or CCBG?

In the previous week, First Merchants and First Merchants both had 3 articles in the media. Capital City Bank Group's average media sentiment score of 1.34 beat First Merchants' score of 1.03 indicating that Capital City Bank Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Merchants	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Capital City Bank Group	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in FRME or CCBG?

First Merchants received 128 more outperform votes than Capital City Bank Group when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 59.93% of users gave First Merchants an outperform vote while only 54.35% of users gave Capital City Bank Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First Merchants	Outperform Votes 359 59.93%	Underperform Votes 240 40.07%
Capital City Bank Group	Outperform Votes 231 54.35%	Underperform Votes 194 45.65%

Summary

First Merchants beats Capital City Bank Group on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.