First Guaranty Bancshares (FGBI) Competitors

South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) and First Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:FGBI) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, community ranking, risk, earnings, profitability, media sentiment and valuation.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in SPFI or FGBI?

55.0% of South Plains Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.5% of First Guaranty Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 25.4% of South Plains Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 46.4% of First Guaranty Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility & risk, SPFI or FGBI?

South Plains Financial has a beta of 0.6, meaning that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Guaranty Bancshares has a beta of 0.38, meaning that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in SPFI or FGBI?

First Guaranty Bancshares received 112 more outperform votes than South Plains Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.43% of users gave First Guaranty Bancshares an outperform vote while only 55.29% of users gave South Plains Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
South Plains Financial	Outperform Votes 47 55.29%	Underperform Votes 38 44.71%
First Guaranty Bancshares	Outperform Votes 159 65.43%	Underperform Votes 84 34.57%

Does the media refer more to SPFI or FGBI?

In the previous week, First Guaranty Bancshares had 2 more articles in the media than South Plains Financial. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for First Guaranty Bancshares and 0 mentions for South Plains Financial. South Plains Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.00 beat First Guaranty Bancshares' score of -0.70 indicating that South Plains Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
South Plains Financial	Neutral
First Guaranty Bancshares	Negative

Is SPFI or FGBI a better dividend stock?

South Plains Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. First Guaranty Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. South Plains Financial pays out 23.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Guaranty Bancshares pays out 4.8% 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.

Is SPFI or FGBI more profitable?

South Plains Financial has a net margin of 15.51% compared to First Guaranty Bancshares' net margin of 5.32%. South Plains Financial's return on equity of 10.39% beat First Guaranty Bancshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
South Plains Financial	15.51%	10.39%	1.03%
First Guaranty Bancshares	5.32%	5.78%	0.35%

Do analysts prefer SPFI or FGBI?

South Plains Financial presently has a consensus price target of $36.00, indicating a potential upside of 0.47%. Given South Plains Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe South Plains Financial is more favorable than First Guaranty Bancshares.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
South Plains Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
First Guaranty Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, SPFI or FGBI?

South Plains Financial has higher revenue and earnings than First Guaranty Bancshares. South Plains Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Guaranty Bancshares, 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
South Plains Financial	$181.76M	3.23	$62.74M	$2.57	13.94
First Guaranty Bancshares	$109.95M	1.37	$9.22M	$0.84	14.31

Summary

South Plains Financial beats First Guaranty Bancshares on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.