Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (SBCF) Competitors

Webster Financial (NYSE:WBS) and Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, community ranking, institutional ownership, media sentiment, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Which has more volatility and risk, WBS or SBCF?

Webster Financial has a beta of 1.28, meaning that its stock price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida has a beta of 1.09, meaning that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor WBS or SBCF?

In the previous week, Webster Financial had 1 more articles in the media than Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Webster Financial and 6 mentions for Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida. Webster Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.48 beat Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida's score of 1.29 indicating that Webster Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Webster Financial	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is WBS or SBCF a better dividend stock?

Webster Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Webster Financial pays out 36.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida pays out 50.3% 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. Webster Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor WBS or SBCF?

Webster Financial received 235 more outperform votes than Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 59.64% of users gave Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida an outperform vote while only 58.66% of users gave Webster Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Webster Financial	Outperform Votes 535 58.66%	Underperform Votes 377 41.34%
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	Outperform Votes 300 59.64%	Underperform Votes 203 40.36%

Do analysts rate WBS or SBCF?

Webster Financial presently has a consensus target price of $63.36, suggesting a potential upside of 21.36%. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida has a consensus target price of $30.00, suggesting a potential upside of 15.17%. Given Webster Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Webster Financial is more favorable than Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Webster Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Which has better valuation & earnings, WBS or SBCF?

Webster Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida. Webster Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida, 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
Webster Financial	$2.58B	3.47	$768.71M	$4.37	11.95
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	$515.40M	4.33	$120.99M	$1.43	18.22

Is WBS or SBCF more profitable?

Webster Financial has a net margin of 18.39% compared to Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida's net margin of 14.95%. Webster Financial's return on equity of 10.82% beat Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Webster Financial	18.39%	10.82%	1.21%
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	14.95%	5.91%	0.85%

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of WBS or SBCF?

85.6% of Webster Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.8% of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Webster Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Webster Financial beats Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida on 16 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.