Lakeland Financial (LKFN) Competitors

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) and Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) (NYSE:HOMB) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, community ranking, valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership and risk.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in LKFN or HOMB?

81.2% of Lakeland Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.3% of Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.3% of Lakeland Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.7% of Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, LKFN or HOMB?

Lakeland Financial has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer LKFN or HOMB?

In the previous week, Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) had 4 more articles in the media than Lakeland Financial. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) and 1 mentions for Lakeland Financial. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)'s average media sentiment score of 1.18 beat Lakeland Financial's score of 0.00 indicating that Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Lakeland Financial	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is LKFN or HOMB more profitable?

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) has a net margin of 27.39% compared to Lakeland Financial's net margin of 21.74%. Lakeland Financial's return on equity of 13.31% beat Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)'s return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lakeland Financial	21.74%	13.31%	1.35%
Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)	27.39%	10.31%	1.77%

Which has better earnings and valuation, LKFN or HOMB?

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) has higher revenue and earnings than Lakeland Financial. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lakeland 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
Lakeland Financial	$430M	3.89	$93.48M	$3.63	18.07
Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)	$1.47B	3.99	$402.24M	$2.02	14.58

Do analysts prefer LKFN or HOMB?

Lakeland Financial currently has a consensus target price of $74.00, suggesting a potential upside of 12.82%. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) has a consensus target price of $32.00, suggesting a potential upside of 8.64%. Given Lakeland Financial's higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Lakeland Financial is more favorable than Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR).

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lakeland Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60

Does the MarketBeat Community favor LKFN or HOMB?

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) received 130 more outperform votes than Lakeland Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.24% of users gave Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) an outperform vote while only 56.52% of users gave Lakeland Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Lakeland Financial	Outperform Votes 373 56.52%	Underperform Votes 287 43.48%
Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR)	Outperform Votes 503 60.24%	Underperform Votes 332 39.76%

Is LKFN or HOMB a better dividend stock?

Lakeland Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) pays an annual dividend of $0.78 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Lakeland Financial pays out 55.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) pays out 38.6% 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. Lakeland Financial has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years and Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years.

Summary

Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) beats Lakeland Financial on 15 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.