Stellarone (STEL) Competitors

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) and Stellarone (NASDAQ:STEL) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, media sentiment and risk.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, BUSE or STEL?

Stellarone has lower revenue, but higher earnings than First Busey. Stellarone is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Busey, 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
First Busey	$663.36M	3.19	$113.69M	$1.07	22.13
Stellarone	$625.45M	2.59	$117.61M	$2.20	13.79

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in BUSE or STEL?

56.5% of First Busey shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.2% of Stellarone shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.9% of First Busey shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 9.9% of Stellarone shares are owned 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.

Do analysts prefer BUSE or STEL?

First Busey currently has a consensus target price of $27.67, indicating a potential upside of 16.84%. Stellarone has a consensus target price of $29.00, indicating a potential downside of 4.39%. Given First Busey's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe First Busey is more favorable than Stellarone.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Busey	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Stellarone	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Which has more volatility & risk, BUSE or STEL?

First Busey has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Stellarone has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is BUSE or STEL a better dividend stock?

First Busey pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Stellarone pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. First Busey pays out 93.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Stellarone pays out 25.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Busey has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years and Stellarone has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. First Busey is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media refer more to BUSE or STEL?

In the previous week, First Busey had 12 more articles in the media than Stellarone. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for First Busey and 0 mentions for Stellarone. First Busey's average media sentiment score of 0.97 beat Stellarone's score of 0.00 indicating that First Busey is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
First Busey	Positive
Stellarone	Neutral

Is BUSE or STEL more profitable?

Stellarone has a net margin of 18.80% compared to First Busey's net margin of 8.32%. First Busey's return on equity of 8.46% beat Stellarone's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Busey	8.32%	8.46%	0.96%
Stellarone	18.80%	7.43%	1.09%

Summary

First Busey beats Stellarone on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.