Park National (PRK) Competitors

Park National (NYSE:PRK) and First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and profitability.

Is PRK or BUSE more profitable?

Park National has a net margin of 23.46% compared to First Busey's net margin of 9.48%. Park National's return on equity of 12.31% beat First Busey's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Park National	23.46%	12.31%	1.50%
First Busey	9.48%	8.76%	1.04%

Do analysts recommend PRK or BUSE?

Park National presently has a consensus target price of $177.75, suggesting a potential upside of 6.81%. First Busey has a consensus target price of $27.17, suggesting a potential upside of 17.15%. Given First Busey's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe First Busey is more favorable than Park National.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Park National	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
First Busey	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Is PRK or BUSE a better dividend stock?

Park National pays an annual dividend of $4.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. First Busey pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Park National pays out 41.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Busey pays out 89.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Park National has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years and First Busey has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years. First Busey is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of PRK or BUSE?

62.7% of Park National shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of First Busey shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.7% of Park National shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of First Busey shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility and risk, PRK or BUSE?

Park National has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Busey has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor PRK or BUSE?

In the previous week, Park National had 41 more articles in the media than First Busey. MarketBeat recorded 44 mentions for Park National and 3 mentions for First Busey. First Busey's average media sentiment score of 1.68 beat Park National's score of -0.07 indicating that First Busey is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Park National	2 Very Positive mention(s)	11 Positive mention(s)	13 Neutral mention(s)	14 Negative mention(s)	4 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
First Busey	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, PRK or BUSE?

Park National has higher earnings, but lower revenue than First Busey. Park National 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
Park National	$543.45M	4.92	$151.42M	$10.29	16.17
First Busey	$663.36M	3.11	$113.69M	$1.12	20.71

Summary

First Busey beats Park National on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.