Critical Review: First Guaranty Bancshares (FGBI) vs. The Competition

First Guaranty Bancshares (NASDAQ:FGBI) is one of 919 publicly-traded companies in the “Banks” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare First Guaranty Bancshares to similar companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, risk, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares First Guaranty Bancshares and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Guaranty Bancshares	9.17%	10.67%	0.52%
First Guaranty Bancshares Competitors	15.65%	9.44%	0.93%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares First Guaranty Bancshares and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Guaranty Bancshares	$105.38 million	-$56.02 million	9.17
First Guaranty Bancshares Competitors	$37.85 billion	$2.42 billion	21.06

First Guaranty Bancshares’ competitors have higher revenue and earnings than First Guaranty Bancshares. First Guaranty Bancshares is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for First Guaranty Bancshares and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Guaranty Bancshares	1	1	0	0	1.50
First Guaranty Bancshares Competitors	7483	30220	27802	1478	2.35

As a group, “Banks” companies have a potential upside of 16.79%. Given First Guaranty Bancshares’ competitors stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe First Guaranty Bancshares has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

39.5% of First Guaranty Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.0% of shares of all “Banks” companies are held by institutional investors. 49.4% of First Guaranty Bancshares shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.7% of shares of all “Banks” companies are held 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.

Volatility and Risk

First Guaranty Bancshares has a beta of 0.44, indicating that its share price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Guaranty Bancshares’ competitors have a beta of 0.61, indicating that their average share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

First Guaranty Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. First Guaranty Bancshares pays out 3.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Banks” companies pay a dividend yield of 9.3% and pay out 28.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

First Guaranty Bancshares competitors beat First Guaranty Bancshares on 12 of the 15 factors compared.

About First Guaranty Bancshares

First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. operates as the holding company for First Guaranty Bank that provides commercial banking services in Louisiana and Texas. It offers various deposit products, including personal and business checking, savings, money market, and demand accounts, as well as time deposits to consumers, small businesses, and municipalities. The company provides loans, such as non-farm, non-residential loans secured by real estate, commercial and industrial loans, one- to four-family residential loans, multifamily loans, construction and land development loans, agricultural loans, farmland loans, and consumer and other loans to small to medium-sized businesses and professionals, and individuals. In addition, it offers a range of consumer services, including credit cards, mobile deposit capture, safe deposit boxes, official checks, online and mobile banking, automated teller machines, and online bill pay; provides additional solutions, such as merchant services, remote deposit capture, and lockbox services to business customers; and invests a portion of its assets in securities issued by the United States Government and its agencies, state and municipal obligations, corporate debt securities, mutual funds, and equity securities, as well as invests in mortgage-backed securities primarily issued or guaranteed by United States Government agencies or enterprises. First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Hammond, Louisiana.