Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) and First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Head-To-Head Contrast

Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) and First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and dividends.

Dividends

Huntington Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. First Busey pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Huntington Bancshares pays out 45.9% 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. 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.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.7% of Huntington Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of First Busey shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Huntington Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of First Busey shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Huntington Bancshares and First Busey”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Huntington Bancshares	$11.96 billion	2.12	$1.94 billion	$1.35	12.85
First Busey	$663.36 million	3.16	$113.69 million	$1.12	20.98

Huntington Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than First Busey. Huntington Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Busey, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Huntington Bancshares has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Busey has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Huntington Bancshares and First Busey’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Huntington Bancshares	17.36%	11.81%	1.06%
First Busey	9.48%	8.76%	1.04%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Huntington Bancshares and First Busey, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Huntington Bancshares	1	3	15	2	2.86
First Busey	0	3	3	0	2.50

Huntington Bancshares presently has a consensus price target of $19.05, suggesting a potential upside of 9.81%. First Busey has a consensus price target of $27.33, suggesting a potential upside of 16.31%. Given First Busey’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe First Busey is more favorable than Huntington Bancshares.

Summary

Huntington Bancshares beats First Busey on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Huntington Bancshares

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated operates as the bank holding company for The Huntington National Bank that provides commercial, consumer, and mortgage banking services in the United States. The company offers financial products and services to consumer and business customers, including deposits, lending, payments, mortgage banking, dealer financing, investment management, trust, brokerage, insurance, and other financial products and services. It also provides 24-hour grace, asterisk-free checking, money scout, $50 safety zone, standby cash, early pay, instant access, savings goal getter, and Huntington heads up; digitally powered consumer and business financial solutions to consumer lending, regional banking, branch banking, and wealth management customers; direct and indirect consumer loans, as well as dealer finance loans and deposits; and private banking, wealth management and legacy planning through investment and portfolio management, fiduciary administration and trust, institutional custody, and full-service retail brokerage investment services. The company offers equipment financing, asset-based lending, distribution finance, structured lending, and municipal financing solutions, as well as Huntington ChoicePay. In addition, it offers lending, liquidity, treasury management and other payment services, and capital markets; government and non-profits, healthcare, technology and telecommunications, franchises, financial sponsors, and global services; and corporate risk management, institutional sales and trading, debt and equity issuance, and additional advisory services. The company offers its products through a network of channels, including branches and ATMs, online and mobile banking, and through customer call centers to customers in middle market banking, corporate, specialty, and government banking, asset finance, commercial real estate banking, and capital markets. The company was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

About First Busey

First Busey Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Busey Bank that engages in the provision of retail and commercial banking products and services to individual, corporate, institutional, and governmental customers in the United States. It operates through three segments: Banking, Wealth Management, and FirsTech. The Banking segment provides banking services to individual customers, such as demand and savings deposits, money transfers, safe deposit services, individual retirement accounts and other fiduciary services, automated teller machines, and technology-based networks, as well as loan products, including residential real estate, home equity lines of credit, and consumer loans. This segment also offers banking services to corporate customers, including commercial, commercial real estate, real estate construction, and agricultural loans, as well as cash management services. The Wealth Management segment offers a range of investment and asset management, investment, brokerage, investment strategy consulting, fiduciary, philanthropic advisory, tax preparation, business succession planning, and employee retirement plan services to individuals, businesses, and foundations; and professional farm management services to the agricultural industry. The FirsTech segment provides payment technology solutions comprising online, mobile, and voice-recognition bill payments; money management and credit card networks; direct debit services; lockbox remittance processing for payments made by mail; and walk-in payments, as well as tools to help clients with billing, reconciliation, bill reminders, and treasury services. The company was founded in 1868 and is headquartered in Champaign, Illinois.