Head to Head Survey: First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) vs. Old National Bancorp (NASDAQ:ONB)

Old National Bancorp (NASDAQ:ONB) and First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, risk, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Old National Bancorp and First Busey’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Old National Bancorp	17.39%	10.42%	1.19%
First Busey	11.00%	9.05%	1.11%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Old National Bancorp and First Busey, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Old National Bancorp	0	5	6	1	2.67
First Busey	0	4	3	0	2.43

Old National Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $26.00, suggesting a potential upside of 12.72%. First Busey has a consensus target price of $26.33, suggesting a potential upside of 7.99%. Given Old National Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Old National Bancorp is more favorable than First Busey.

Volatility & Risk

Old National Bancorp has a beta of 0.84, meaning that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Busey has a beta of 0.8, meaning that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

83.7% of Old National Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of First Busey shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Old National Bancorp 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 is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Old National Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. First Busey pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Old National Bancorp pays out 32.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Busey pays out 87.0% 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 increased 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Old National Bancorp and First Busey”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Old National Bancorp	$2.96 billion	3.05	$539.19 million	$1.71	13.49
First Busey	$663.36 million	3.25	$113.69 million	$1.15	21.20

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

Summary

Old National Bancorp beats First Busey on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Old National Bancorp

Old National Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Old National Bank that provides various financial services to individual and commercial customers in the United States. It accepts deposit accounts, including noninterest-bearing demand, interest-bearing checking, negotiable order of withdrawal, savings and money market, and time deposits; and offers loans, such as home equity lines of credit, residential real estate loans, consumer loans, commercial loans, commercial real estate loans, agricultural loans, letters of credit, and lease financing. The company also provides debit and automated teller machine cards, telephone access, online banking, and other electronic and mobile banking services; cash management, private banking, brokerage, trust, investment advisory, and other traditional banking services; wealth management, investment, and foreign currency services; and treasury management, merchant, and capital markets services, as well as community development lending and equity investment solutions. The company was founded in 1834 and is headquartered in Evansville, Indiana.

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.