Hancock Whitney (HWC) Competitors

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) and Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, community ranking, profitability, media sentiment and institutional ownership.

Do insiders and institutionals believe in HWC or CFG?

81.2% of Hancock Whitney shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.9% of Citizens Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Hancock Whitney shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Citizens Financial Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media refer more to HWC or CFG?

In the previous week, Citizens Financial Group had 6 more articles in the media than Hancock Whitney. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Citizens Financial Group and 9 mentions for Hancock Whitney. Citizens Financial Group's average media sentiment score of 1.24 beat Hancock Whitney's score of 0.96 indicating that Citizens Financial Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Hancock Whitney	4 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Citizens Financial Group	11 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better earnings & valuation, HWC or CFG?

Citizens Financial Group has higher revenue and earnings than Hancock Whitney. Hancock Whitney is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Citizens Financial Group, 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
Hancock Whitney	$1.45B	3.38	$460.82M	$5.28	10.76
Citizens Financial Group	$12.36B	1.59	$1.51B	$3.03	14.81

Do analysts recommend HWC or CFG?

Hancock Whitney currently has a consensus price target of $62.56, suggesting a potential upside of 10.09%. Citizens Financial Group has a consensus price target of $49.00, suggesting a potential upside of 9.22%. Given Hancock Whitney's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Hancock Whitney is more favorable than Citizens Financial Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hancock Whitney	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.89
Citizens Financial Group	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.61

Which has more risk & volatility, HWC or CFG?

Hancock Whitney has a beta of 1.27, suggesting that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Citizens Financial Group has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is HWC or CFG a better dividend stock?

Hancock Whitney pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Citizens Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Hancock Whitney pays out 34.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Citizens Financial Group pays out 55.4% 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.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in HWC or CFG?

Citizens Financial Group received 475 more outperform votes than Hancock Whitney when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.04% of users gave Citizens Financial Group an outperform vote while only 48.80% of users gave Hancock Whitney an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Hancock Whitney	Outperform Votes 61 48.80%	Underperform Votes 64 51.20%
Citizens Financial Group	Outperform Votes 536 62.04%	Underperform Votes 328 37.96%

Is HWC or CFG more profitable?

Hancock Whitney has a net margin of 22.40% compared to Citizens Financial Group's net margin of 12.21%. Hancock Whitney's return on equity of 11.56% beat Citizens Financial Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hancock Whitney	22.40%	11.56%	1.32%
Citizens Financial Group	12.21%	6.75%	0.68%

Summary

Hancock Whitney and Citizens Financial Group tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.