Independent Bank (IBCP) Competitors

Independent Bank (NASDAQ:IBCP) and Burford Capital (NYSE:BUR) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, media sentiment, earnings, community ranking, dividends and institutional ownership.

Is IBCP or BUR more profitable?

Burford Capital has a net margin of 34.81% compared to Independent Bank's net margin of 19.93%. Independent Bank's return on equity of 15.26% beat Burford Capital's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Independent Bank	19.93%	15.26%	1.24%
Burford Capital	34.81%	8.07%	4.28%

Which has more risk & volatility, IBCP or BUR?

Independent Bank has a beta of 1.03, suggesting that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Burford Capital has a beta of 0.56, suggesting that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of IBCP or BUR?

79.4% of Independent Bank shares are held by institutional investors. 5.5% of Independent Bank shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Burford Capital shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is IBCP or BUR a better dividend stock?

Independent Bank pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Burford Capital pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Independent Bank pays out 32.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Burford Capital pays out 10.3% 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. Independent Bank has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years. Independent Bank is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media prefer IBCP or BUR?

In the previous week, Independent Bank had 1 more articles in the media than Burford Capital. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Independent Bank and 2 mentions for Burford Capital. Burford Capital's average media sentiment score of 1.43 beat Independent Bank's score of 0.59 indicating that Burford Capital is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Independent Bank	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Burford Capital	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer IBCP or BUR?

Independent Bank presently has a consensus price target of $34.83, indicating a potential upside of 1.20%. Burford Capital has a consensus price target of $19.50, indicating a potential upside of 48.98%. Given Burford Capital's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Burford Capital is more favorable than Independent Bank.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Independent Bank	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Burford Capital	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has better valuation and earnings, IBCP or BUR?

Burford Capital has higher revenue and earnings than Independent Bank. Burford Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Independent Bank, 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
Independent Bank	$290.35M	2.48	$59.07M	$2.94	11.71
Burford Capital	$1.09B	2.64	$610.52M	$1.16	11.28

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in IBCP or BUR?

Independent Bank received 212 more outperform votes than Burford Capital when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 59.09% of users gave Burford Capital an outperform vote while only 54.61% of users gave Independent Bank an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Independent Bank	Outperform Votes 225 54.61%	Underperform Votes 187 45.39%
Burford Capital	Outperform Votes 13 59.09%	Underperform Votes 9 40.91%

Summary

Burford Capital beats Independent Bank on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.