First Merchants (FRME) Competitors

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

Do analysts rate FFBC or FRME?

First Financial Bancorp. presently has a consensus price target of $24.67, suggesting a potential upside of 4.25%. First Merchants has a consensus price target of $41.25, suggesting a potential upside of 15.29%. Given First Financial Bancorp.'s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe First Merchants is more favorable than First Financial Bancorp..

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Financial Bancorp.	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
First Merchants	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is FFBC or FRME a better dividend stock?

First Financial Bancorp. pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. First Merchants pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. First Financial Bancorp. pays out 37.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Merchants pays out 39.2% 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 12 consecutive years. First Financial Bancorp. is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media prefer FFBC or FRME?

In the previous week, First Financial Bancorp. had 7 more articles in the media than First Merchants. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for First Financial Bancorp. and 1 mentions for First Merchants. First Financial Bancorp.'s average media sentiment score of 0.95 beat First Merchants' score of 0.60 indicating that First Merchants is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Financial Bancorp.	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
First Merchants	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is FFBC or FRME more profitable?

First Financial Bancorp. has a net margin of 20.74% compared to First Financial Bancorp.'s net margin of 20.15%. First Merchants' return on equity of 11.22% beat First Financial Bancorp.'s return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Financial Bancorp.	20.74%	11.22%	1.43%
First Merchants	20.15%	10.21%	1.21%

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in FFBC or FRME?

77.2% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.9% of First Merchants shares are held by institutional investors. 2.0% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of First Merchants shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer FFBC or FRME?

First Merchants received 80 more outperform votes than First Financial Bancorp. when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 59.73% of users gave First Merchants an outperform vote while only 46.59% of users gave First Financial Bancorp. an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First Financial Bancorp.	Outperform Votes 273 46.59%	Underperform Votes 313 53.41%
First Merchants	Outperform Votes 353 59.73%	Underperform Votes 238 40.27%

Which has more volatility & risk, FFBC or FRME?

First Financial Bancorp. has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Merchants has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, FFBC or FRME?

First Financial Bancorp. has higher earnings, but lower revenue than First Merchants. First Financial Bancorp. 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 Financial Bancorp.	$820.58M	2.75	$255.86M	$2.48	9.54
First Merchants	$999.49M	2.10	$223.79M	$3.47	10.31

Summary

First Merchants beats First Financial Bancorp. on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.