First Merchants (FRME) Competitors

Webster Financial (NYSE:WBS) and First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, community ranking, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership and earnings.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of WBS or FRME?

85.6% of Webster Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.9% of First Merchants shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Webster Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of First Merchants shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is WBS or FRME more profitable?

Webster Financial has a net margin of 18.80% compared to First Merchants' net margin of 16.94%. Webster Financial's return on equity of 11.03% beat First Merchants' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Webster Financial	18.80%	11.03%	1.23%
First Merchants	16.94%	8.94%	1.08%

Is WBS or FRME a better dividend stock?

Webster Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. First Merchants pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Webster Financial pays out 36.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Merchants pays out 46.2% 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 raised 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 higher earnings & valuation, WBS or FRME?

Webster Financial has higher revenue and earnings than First Merchants. Webster Financial 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
Webster Financial	$2.55B	3.89	$867.84M	$4.41	13.13
First Merchants	$626.09M	4.04	$223.79M	$3.03	14.22

Which has more risk & volatility, WBS or FRME?

Webster Financial has a beta of 1.29, indicating that its share price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Merchants has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts recommend WBS or FRME?

Webster Financial presently has a consensus price target of $60.31, indicating a potential upside of 4.16%. First Merchants has a consensus price target of $42.60, indicating a potential downside of 1.11%. Given Webster Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Webster Financial is more favorable than First Merchants.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Webster Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75
First Merchants	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60

Does the media prefer WBS or FRME?

In the previous week, Webster Financial had 9 more articles in the media than First Merchants. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for Webster Financial and 7 mentions for First Merchants. Webster Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.35 beat First Merchants' score of 1.23 indicating that Webster Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Webster Financial	10 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
First Merchants	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer WBS or FRME?

Webster Financial received 173 more outperform votes than First Merchants when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 59.93% of users gave First Merchants an outperform vote while only 58.72% of users gave Webster Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Webster Financial	Outperform Votes 532 58.72%	Underperform Votes 374 41.28%
First Merchants	Outperform Votes 359 59.93%	Underperform Votes 240 40.07%

Summary

Webster Financial beats First Merchants on 15 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.