Hawthorn Bancshares (HWBK) Competitors

First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) and Hawthorn Bancshares (NASDAQ:HWBK) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, community ranking, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, media sentiment, risk, earnings and valuation.

Do analysts prefer FUNC or HWBK?

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First United	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	N/A
Hawthorn Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	N/A

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in FUNC or HWBK?

33.3% of First United shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.7% of Hawthorn Bancshares shares are held by institutional investors. 7.8% of First United shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 23.4% of Hawthorn Bancshares shares 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.

Is FUNC or HWBK more profitable?

First United has a net margin of 13.82% compared to First United's net margin of 2.09%. Hawthorn Bancshares' return on equity of 11.64% beat First United's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First United	13.82%	11.64%	0.97%
Hawthorn Bancshares	2.09%	1.65%	0.11%

Which has more risk and volatility, FUNC or HWBK?

First United has a beta of 0.84, meaning that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hawthorn Bancshares has a beta of 0.49, meaning that its stock price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is FUNC or HWBK a better dividend stock?

First United pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Hawthorn Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. First United pays out 37.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hawthorn Bancshares pays out 226.7% 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 United has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years and Hawthorn Bancshares has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. First United is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, FUNC or HWBK?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First United	$99.49M	1.50	$15.06M	$2.15	10.44
Hawthorn Bancshares	$99.50M	1.39	$960K	$0.30	65.67

Does the media refer more to FUNC or HWBK?

In the previous week, Hawthorn Bancshares had 2 more articles in the media than First United. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Hawthorn Bancshares and 5 mentions for First United. Hawthorn Bancshares' average media sentiment score of 1.40 beat First United's score of 0.31 indicating that First United is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First United	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Hawthorn Bancshares	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in FUNC or HWBK?

Hawthorn Bancshares received 10 more outperform votes than First United when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 65.53% of users gave First United an outperform vote while only 61.97% of users gave Hawthorn Bancshares an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First United	Outperform Votes 135 65.53%	Underperform Votes 71 34.47%
Hawthorn Bancshares	Outperform Votes 145 61.97%	Underperform Votes 89 38.03%

Summary

First United beats Hawthorn Bancshares on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.