Financial Comparison: First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) versus First Mid Bancshares (NASDAQ:FMBH)

First Mid Bancshares (NASDAQ:FMBH) and First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Volatility & Risk

First Mid Bancshares has a beta of 0.88, meaning that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Busey has a beta of 0.75, meaning that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for First Mid Bancshares and First Busey, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Mid Bancshares	0	3	2	0	2.40
First Busey	0	2	3	0	2.60

First Mid Bancshares presently has a consensus target price of $45.00, indicating a potential upside of 42.72%. First Busey has a consensus target price of $27.80, indicating a potential upside of 44.72%. Given First Busey’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe First Busey is more favorable than First Mid Bancshares.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares First Mid 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
First Mid Bancshares	$318.63 million	2.37	$78.90 million	$3.29	9.58
First Busey	$461.45 million	2.37	$113.69 million	$1.97	9.75

First Busey has higher revenue and earnings than First Mid Bancshares. First Mid 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.

Dividends

First Mid Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. First Busey pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. First Mid Bancshares pays out 29.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Busey pays out 50.8% 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.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

47.6% of First Mid Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of First Busey shares are held by institutional investors. 5.2% of First Mid Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.1% of First Busey 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.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Mid Bancshares	17.39%	10.10%	1.09%
First Busey	17.14%	8.94%	1.00%

Summary

First Busey beats First Mid Bancshares on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Mid Bancshares

First Mid Bancshares, Inc., a financial holding company, provides community banking products and services to commercial, retail, and agricultural customers in the United States. It accepts various deposit products, such as demand deposits, savings accounts, money market deposits, and time deposits. The company’s loan products include commercial real estate, commercial and industrial, agricultural and agricultural real estate, residential real estate, and consumer loans, as well as construction and land development, 1-4 family residential properties, and multifamily residential properties loans; and other loans comprising loans to municipalities to support community projects, such as infrastructure improvements or equipment purchases. It also offers wealth management services, which include estate planning, investment, and farm management and brokerage services for individuals; employee benefit services for businesses; and farm management and brokerage services. In addition, the company provides property and casualty, senior insurance products, and group medical insurance for businesses; and personal lines insurance to individuals. The company was formerly known as First Mid-Illinois Bancshares, Inc. and changed its name to First Mid Bancshares, Inc. in April 2019. First Mid Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1865 and is headquartered in Mattoon, Illinois.

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.