WASH vs. FRME, FFBC, SBCF, BANR, RNST, WSBC, EFSC, TRMK, NBTB, and SYBT
Should you be buying Washington Trust Bancorp stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Washington Trust Bancorp include First Merchants (FRME), First Financial Bancorp. (FFBC), Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (SBCF), Banner (BANR), Renasant (RNST), WesBanco (WSBC), Enterprise Financial Services (EFSC), Trustmark (TRMK), NBT Bancorp (NBTB), and Stock Yards Bancorp (SYBT). These companies are all part of the "regional banks" industry.
Washington Trust Bancorp vs.
Washington Trust Bancorp (NASDAQ:WASH) and First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, community ranking, valuation, earnings, risk and dividends.
Washington Trust Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $34.00, indicating a potential upside of 8.04%. First Merchants has a consensus price target of $49.00, indicating a potential upside of 19.40%. Given First Merchants' higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe First Merchants is more favorable than Washington Trust Bancorp.
First Merchants received 173 more outperform votes than Washington Trust Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.20% of users gave First Merchants an outperform vote while only 52.63% of users gave Washington Trust Bancorp an outperform vote.
Washington Trust Bancorp has a beta of 0.8, suggesting that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Merchants has a beta of 1.05, suggesting that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Washington Trust Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $2.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.1%. First Merchants pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Washington Trust Bancorp pays out -144.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Merchants pays out 40.9% 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. First Merchants has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Washington Trust Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
First Merchants has a net margin of 18.76% compared to Washington Trust Bancorp's net margin of -6.90%. First Merchants' return on equity of 9.23% beat Washington Trust Bancorp's return on equity.
In the previous week, First Merchants had 2 more articles in the media than Washington Trust Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for First Merchants and 5 mentions for Washington Trust Bancorp. Washington Trust Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.40 beat First Merchants' score of 1.15 indicating that Washington Trust Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.
65.8% of Washington Trust Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.9% of First Merchants shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Washington Trust Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of First Merchants shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
First Merchants has higher revenue and earnings than Washington Trust Bancorp. Washington Trust Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Merchants, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
First Merchants beats Washington Trust Bancorp on 16 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This page (NASDAQ:WASH) was last updated on 3/27/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff