TowneBank (TOWN) Competitors

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN) and TowneBank (NASDAQ:TOWN) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, media sentiment, community ranking, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, earnings and risk.

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of FHN or TOWN?

80.3% of First Horizon shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.0% of TowneBank shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of First Horizon shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.1% of TowneBank 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.

Is FHN or TOWN more profitable?

First Horizon has a net margin of 15.43% compared to TowneBank's net margin of 14.89%. First Horizon's return on equity of 9.51% beat TowneBank's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Horizon	15.43%	9.51%	1.01%
TowneBank	14.89%	7.41%	0.91%

Do analysts prefer FHN or TOWN?

First Horizon presently has a consensus target price of $17.92, indicating a potential upside of 4.26%. TowneBank has a consensus target price of $36.00, indicating a potential upside of 11.15%. Given TowneBank's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe TowneBank is more favorable than First Horizon.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Horizon	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.62
TowneBank	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, FHN or TOWN?

First Horizon has higher revenue and earnings than TowneBank. First Horizon is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than TowneBank, 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 Horizon	$5.03B	1.83	$897M	$1.38	12.46
TowneBank	$941.58M	2.58	$153.71M	$1.99	16.28

Does the MarketBeat Community favor FHN or TOWN?

First Horizon received 292 more outperform votes than TowneBank when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 54.93% of users gave TowneBank an outperform vote while only 54.49% of users gave First Horizon an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First Horizon	Outperform Votes 498 54.49%	Underperform Votes 416 45.51%
TowneBank	Outperform Votes 206 54.93%	Underperform Votes 169 45.07%

Which has more risk & volatility, FHN or TOWN?

First Horizon has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TowneBank has a beta of 0.89, suggesting that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is FHN or TOWN a better dividend stock?

First Horizon pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. TowneBank pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. First Horizon pays out 43.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. TowneBank 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. TowneBank has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years. First Horizon is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media favor FHN or TOWN?

In the previous week, First Horizon had 12 more articles in the media than TowneBank. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for First Horizon and 2 mentions for TowneBank. TowneBank's average media sentiment score of 0.72 beat First Horizon's score of 0.70 indicating that TowneBank is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Horizon	4 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
TowneBank	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

First Horizon beats TowneBank on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.