Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB) & First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Financial Survey

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE – Get Free Report) and Live Oak Bancshares (NYSE:LOB – Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and valuation.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

56.5% of First Busey shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.0% of Live Oak Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.8% of First Busey shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 22.4% of Live Oak Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

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Risk and Volatility

First Busey has a beta of 0.75, meaning that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Live Oak Bancshares has a beta of 1.94, meaning that its stock price is 94% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

First Busey pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Live Oak Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. First Busey pays out 43.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Live Oak Bancshares pays out 4.2% 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 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.

Analyst Ratings

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

First Busey presently has a consensus target price of $31.00, indicating a potential upside of 6.42%. Live Oak Bancshares has a consensus target price of $43.50, indicating a potential upside of 25.57%. Given Live Oak Bancshares’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Live Oak Bancshares is more favorable than First Busey.

Profitability

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

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares First Busey and Live Oak Bancshares”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

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

Summary

First Busey beats Live Oak Bancshares on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Busey

(Get Free Report)

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.

About Live Oak Bancshares

(Get Free Report)

Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Live Oak Banking Company that provides various commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, and professionals in North Carolina, the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, including noninterest-bearing demand, as well as interest-bearing checking, money market, savings, and time deposits. It also offers commercial and industrial loans; construction and development loans; owner occupied and non-owner occupied collateral commercial real estate loans; and commercial land loans. In addition, the company provides settlement, accounting, and securitization services for government guaranteed loans; wealth and investment management services to high-net-worth individuals and families; investment advisory services to a series of funds focused on providing venture capital to new and emerging financial technology companies; and an on-site restaurant location to company employees and business visitors. Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina.

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