Financial Institutions (FISI) Competitors

Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) and Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, community ranking, institutional ownership, media sentiment and risk.

Is FISI or SASR a better dividend stock?

Financial Institutions pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Sandy Spring Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Financial Institutions pays out 37.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sandy Spring Bancorp pays out 71.6% 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. Financial Institutions is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has better valuation and earnings, FISI or SASR?

Sandy Spring Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Financial Institutions. Financial Institutions is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sandy Spring Bancorp, 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
Financial Institutions	$334.38M	1.27	$50.26M	$3.18	8.62
Sandy Spring Bancorp	$704.60M	2.16	$122.84M	$1.90	17.76

Is FISI or SASR more profitable?

Financial Institutions has a net margin of 13.72% compared to Sandy Spring Bancorp's net margin of 11.54%. Financial Institutions' return on equity of 11.32% beat Sandy Spring Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Financial Institutions	13.72%	11.32%	0.82%
Sandy Spring Bancorp	11.54%	5.71%	0.65%

Do analysts prefer FISI or SASR?

Financial Institutions presently has a consensus target price of $30.50, suggesting a potential upside of 11.23%. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a consensus target price of $28.25, suggesting a potential downside of 16.27%. Given Financial Institutions' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Financial Institutions is more favorable than Sandy Spring Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Financial Institutions	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Sandy Spring Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Which has more volatility & risk, FISI or SASR?

Financial Institutions has a beta of 0.91, indicating that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sandy Spring Bancorp has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of FISI or SASR?

60.5% of Financial Institutions shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.9% of Sandy Spring Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of Financial Institutions shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.4% of Sandy Spring Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media refer more to FISI or SASR?

In the previous week, Sandy Spring Bancorp had 8 more articles in the media than Financial Institutions. MarketBeat recorded 19 mentions for Sandy Spring Bancorp and 11 mentions for Financial Institutions. Financial Institutions' average media sentiment score of 0.25 beat Sandy Spring Bancorp's score of 0.24 indicating that Financial Institutions is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Financial Institutions	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Sandy Spring Bancorp	2 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in FISI or SASR?

Financial Institutions received 7 more outperform votes than Sandy Spring Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 58.01% of users gave Financial Institutions an outperform vote while only 55.88% of users gave Sandy Spring Bancorp an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Financial Institutions	Outperform Votes 297 58.01%	Underperform Votes 215 41.99%
Sandy Spring Bancorp	Outperform Votes 290 55.88%	Underperform Votes 229 44.12%

Summary

Financial Institutions beats Sandy Spring Bancorp on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.