Financial Comparison: First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) & Primis Financial (NASDAQ:FRST)

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Primis Financial	8.73%	5.90%	0.58%
First Busey	17.18%	9.10%	0.96%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Primis Financial and First Busey, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Primis Financial	0	0	0	0	N/A
First Busey	0	1	4	0	2.80

First Busey has a consensus target price of $28.60, suggesting a potential upside of 6.24%. Given First Busey’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe First Busey is more favorable than Primis Financial.

Volatility and Risk

Primis Financial has a beta of 0.75, indicating that its share price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Busey has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Primis Financial and First Busey”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Primis Financial	$150.45 million	2.06	$9.94 million	$0.86	14.59
First Busey	$444.45 million	3.44	$122.57 million	$1.98	13.60

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

75.0% of Primis Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of First Busey shares are held by institutional investors. 11.1% of Primis Financial shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.1% of First Busey shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Primis Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. First Busey pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Primis Financial pays out 46.5% 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.

Summary

First Busey beats Primis Financial on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Primis Financial

Primis Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Primis Bank that provides a range of financial services to individuals and small and medium sized businesses in the United States. Its deposit products include checking, NOW, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposits. The company also provides commercial business and real estate, construction, secured asset based, small business administration, mortgage warehouse lending products, as well as financing for medical, dental, and veterinary businesses; residential mortgage, trust mortgage, home equity lines of credit, secured and unsecured personal, and consumer loans, as well as life insurance premium financing and demand loans. It also offers cash management services comprising investment/sweep, zero balance, and controlled disbursement accounts; and wire transfer, employer/payroll processing, night depository, depository transfer, merchant, ACH origination, and remote deposit capture services. In addition, the company provides debit cards, ATM services, notary services, and mobile and online banking. It operates full-service branches in Virginia and Maryland. The company was formerly known as Southern National Bancorp of Virginia, Inc. and changed its name to Primis Financial Corp. Primis Financial Corp. was founded in 2004 and is based in McLean, Virginia.

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.