Reviewing First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) & Chemung Financial (NASDAQ:CHMG)

Chemung Financial (NASDAQ:CHMG) and First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

47.5% of Chemung Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of First Busey shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.7% of Chemung Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 7.1% of First Busey shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chemung Financial	17.35%	12.67%	0.85%
First Busey	18.08%	9.49%	0.95%

Dividends

Chemung Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. First Busey pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Chemung Financial pays out 23.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Busey pays out 48.5% 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 increased its dividend for 1 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 summary of recent ratings for Chemung Financial and First Busey, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chemung Financial	0	1	0	0	2.00
First Busey	0	0	4	0	3.00

Chemung Financial presently has a consensus price target of $49.00, suggesting a potential upside of 13.95%. First Busey has a consensus price target of $25.75, suggesting a potential upside of 9.34%. Given Chemung Financial’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Chemung Financial is more favorable than First Busey.

Volatility and Risk

Chemung Financial has a beta of 0.2, indicating that its stock price is 80% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Busey has a beta of 0.85, indicating that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Chemung Financial and First Busey’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chemung Financial	$137.62 million	1.48	$25.00 million	$5.22	8.24
First Busey	$601.76 million	2.15	$122.57 million	$1.98	11.84

First Busey has higher revenue and earnings than Chemung Financial. Chemung Financial 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

First Busey beats Chemung Financial on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Chemung Financial

Chemung Financial Corporation operates as a bank holding company for Chemung Canal Trust Company that provides a range of banking, financing, fiduciary, and other financial services. The company provides demand, savings, and time deposits; non-interest and interest-bearing checking accounts; and insured money market accounts. It also offers commercial and agricultural loans comprising loans to small to mid-sized businesses; commercial and residential mortgage loans; and consumer loans, including home equity lines of credit and home equity term loans. In addition, the company provides interest rate swaps, letters of credit, employee benefit plans, insurance products, mutual fund, brokerage, and tax preparation services. Further, it offers guardian, custodian, trustee, investment, pension, estate planning, and employee benefit administrative services, as well as acts as an agent for pension, profit-sharing, and other employee benefit trusts. Chemung Financial Corporation was founded in 1833 and is headquartered in Elmira, New York.

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.