Head-To-Head Review: Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) and First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE)

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

Dividends

First Busey pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Commerce Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. First Busey pays out 43.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Commerce Bancshares pays out 26.5% 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 10 consecutive years and Commerce Bancshares has increased its dividend for 58 consecutive years.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

56.5% of First Busey shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.3% of Commerce Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 3.8% of First Busey shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Commerce Bancshares shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Busey	$789.53 million	3.16	$199.84 million	$2.42	12.47
Commerce Bancshares	$1.95 billion	4.07	$595.24 million	$4.15	13.33

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

Risk and Volatility

First Busey has a beta of 0.75, suggesting that its share price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Commerce Bancshares has a beta of 0.6, suggesting that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Busey	N/A	N/A	N/A
Commerce Bancshares	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for First Busey and Commerce Bancshares, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Busey	0	4	3	0	2.43
Commerce Bancshares	0	7	3	0	2.30

First Busey currently has a consensus price target of $31.00, suggesting a potential upside of 2.72%. Commerce Bancshares has a consensus price target of $63.64, suggesting a potential upside of 15.00%. Given Commerce Bancshares’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Commerce Bancshares is more favorable than First Busey.

Summary

Commerce Bancshares beats First Busey on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Commerce Bancshares

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Commerce Bank that provides retail, mortgage banking, corporate, investment, trust, and asset management products and services to individuals and businesses in the United States. It operates through three segments: Consumer, Commercial, and Wealth. The Consumer segment offers various banking products and services, including consumer deposits; consumer loans, such as automobile, motorcycle, marine, tractor/trailer, recreational vehicle, fixed rate and revolving home equity, and other consumer loans; patient health care financing; real estate loans; indirect and other consumer financing; retail branch network; personal mortgage banking; consumer installment lending; and consumer debit and credit bank cards. The Commercial segment provides corporate lending, leasing, international, merchant and commercial bank card, and securities safekeeping and bond accounting services; and business products, government deposits, and related commercial cash management services, as well as sells fixed income securities to correspondent banks, corporations, public institutions, municipalities, and individuals. The Wealth segment provides traditional trust and estate planning, advisory and discretionary investment portfolio management, and brokerage services, as well as private banking accounts. The company also offers private equity investment, securities brokerage, insurance agency, specialty lending, and leasing services, as well as online and mobile banking services. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1865 and is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri.