Heritage Financial (HFWA) Competitors

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) and BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, community ranking, valuation, earnings, risk and dividends.

Do analysts prefer HFWA or BKU?

Heritage Financial currently has a consensus price target of $25.67, indicating a potential upside of 6.28%. BankUnited has a consensus price target of $43.40, indicating a potential upside of 14.80%. Given BankUnited's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe BankUnited is more favorable than Heritage Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Heritage Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
BankUnited	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.20

Does the MarketBeat Community favor HFWA or BKU?

BankUnited received 64 more outperform votes than Heritage Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 57.96% of users gave Heritage Financial an outperform vote while only 55.34% of users gave BankUnited an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Heritage Financial	Outperform Votes 335 57.96%	Underperform Votes 243 42.04%
BankUnited	Outperform Votes 399 55.34%	Underperform Votes 322 44.66%

Which has more risk and volatility, HFWA or BKU?

Heritage Financial has a beta of 0.56, suggesting that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BankUnited has a beta of 1.37, suggesting that its share price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is HFWA or BKU a better dividend stock?

Heritage Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. BankUnited pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Heritage Financial pays out 77.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. BankUnited pays out 37.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Heritage Financial has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Heritage Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is HFWA or BKU more profitable?

Heritage Financial has a net margin of 13.64% compared to BankUnited's net margin of 11.48%. BankUnited's return on equity of 8.48% beat Heritage Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Heritage Financial	13.64%	7.17%	0.87%
BankUnited	11.48%	8.48%	0.66%

Does the media favor HFWA or BKU?

In the previous week, BankUnited had 12 more articles in the media than Heritage Financial. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for BankUnited and 1 mentions for Heritage Financial. Heritage Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.77 beat BankUnited's score of 1.10 indicating that Heritage Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Heritage Financial	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
BankUnited	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in HFWA or BKU?

78.3% of Heritage Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.7% of BankUnited shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of Heritage Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of BankUnited shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, HFWA or BKU?

BankUnited has higher revenue and earnings than Heritage Financial. BankUnited is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Heritage Financial, 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
Heritage Financial	$216.84M	3.80	$43.26M	$1.24	19.48
BankUnited	$2.02B	1.40	$232.47M	$3.08	12.27

Summary

BankUnited beats Heritage Financial on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.