Bar Harbor Bankshares (BHB) Competitors

Bar Harbor Bankshares (NYSE:BHB) and Nicolet Bankshares (NYSE:NIC) are both banking 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, valuation, earnings, risk and dividends.

Is BHB or NIC a better dividend stock?

Bar Harbor Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Nicolet Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Bar Harbor Bankshares pays out 44.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nicolet Bankshares pays out 15.4% 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. Bar Harbor Bankshares has increased its dividend for 22 consecutive years and Nicolet Bankshares has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Bar Harbor Bankshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more volatility & risk, BHB or NIC?

Bar Harbor Bankshares has a beta of 0.65, meaning that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nicolet Bankshares has a beta of 0.76, meaning that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate BHB or NIC?

Nicolet Bankshares has a consensus price target of $119.25, indicating a potential downside of 11.61%. Given Nicolet Bankshares' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Nicolet Bankshares is more favorable than Bar Harbor Bankshares.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bar Harbor Bankshares	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Nicolet Bankshares	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, BHB or NIC?

Nicolet Bankshares has higher revenue and earnings than Bar Harbor Bankshares. Bar Harbor Bankshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nicolet Bankshares, 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
Bar Harbor Bankshares	$150.40M	3.18	$43.65M	$2.85	10.95
Nicolet Bankshares	$520.63M	3.91	$124.06M	$8.29	16.27

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in BHB or NIC?

54.5% of Bar Harbor Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.1% of Nicolet Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. 2.6% of Bar Harbor Bankshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 14.2% of Nicolet Bankshares shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is BHB or NIC more profitable?

Nicolet Bankshares has a net margin of 24.31% compared to Bar Harbor Bankshares' net margin of 0.00%. Nicolet Bankshares' return on equity of 11.08% beat Bar Harbor Bankshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bar Harbor Bankshares	N/A	N/A	N/A
Nicolet Bankshares	24.31%	11.08%	1.46%

Does the media favor BHB or NIC?

In the previous week, Nicolet Bankshares had 7 more articles in the media than Bar Harbor Bankshares. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Nicolet Bankshares and 1 mentions for Bar Harbor Bankshares. Nicolet Bankshares' average media sentiment score of 1.23 beat Bar Harbor Bankshares' score of 0.00 indicating that Nicolet Bankshares is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Bar Harbor Bankshares	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Nicolet Bankshares	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Nicolet Bankshares beats Bar Harbor Bankshares on 16 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.