Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (SBCF) Competitors

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

Do analysts prefer WAL or SBCF?

Western Alliance Bancorporation presently has a consensus price target of $98.07, suggesting a potential upside of 12.59%. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida has a consensus price target of $29.40, suggesting a potential upside of 4.37%. Given Western Alliance Bancorporation's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Western Alliance Bancorporation is more favorable than Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Western Alliance Bancorporation	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	14 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.93
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Is WAL or SBCF more profitable?

Western Alliance Bancorporation has a net margin of 15.49% compared to Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida's net margin of 14.95%. Western Alliance Bancorporation's return on equity of 13.14% beat Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Western Alliance Bancorporation	15.49%	13.14%	1.01%
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	14.95%	5.91%	0.85%

Is WAL or SBCF a better dividend stock?

Western Alliance Bancorporation pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Western Alliance Bancorporation pays out 21.4% 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.

Does the media favor WAL or SBCF?

In the previous week, Western Alliance Bancorporation had 6 more articles in the media than Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Western Alliance Bancorporation and 1 mentions for Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida. Western Alliance Bancorporation's average media sentiment score of 1.23 beat Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida's score of 1.00 indicating that Western Alliance Bancorporation is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Western Alliance Bancorporation	Positive
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	Positive

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, WAL or SBCF?

Western Alliance Bancorporation has higher revenue and earnings than Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida. Western Alliance Bancorporation 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
Western Alliance Bancorporation	$5.08B	1.89	$787.70M	$7.10	12.27
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	$808.99M	2.98	$120.99M	$1.43	19.70

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in WAL or SBCF?

79.2% of Western Alliance Bancorporation shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.8% of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida shares are held by institutional investors. 2.8% of Western Alliance Bancorporation shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer WAL or SBCF?

Western Alliance Bancorporation received 232 more outperform votes than Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.00% of users gave Western Alliance Bancorporation an outperform vote while only 59.76% of users gave Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Western Alliance Bancorporation	Outperform Votes 532 66.00%	Underperform Votes 274 34.00%
Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida	Outperform Votes 300 59.76%	Underperform Votes 202 40.24%

Which has more risk & volatility, WAL or SBCF?

Western Alliance Bancorporation has a beta of 1.46, indicating that its share price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Western Alliance Bancorporation beats Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida on 16 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.