Head-To-Head Review: Heartland BancCorp. (OTCMKTS:HLAN) versus First Western Financial (NASDAQ:MYFW)

First Western Financial (NASDAQ:MYFW) and Heartland BancCorp. (OTCMKTS:HLAN) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, valuation and earnings.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

60.3% of First Western Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 7.5% of Heartland BancCorp. shares are owned by institutional investors. 15.5% of First Western Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 22.7% of Heartland BancCorp. shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for First Western Financial and Heartland BancCorp., as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Western Financial	1	2	2	0	2.20
Heartland BancCorp.	0	0	0	0	0.00

First Western Financial currently has a consensus target price of $24.33, indicating a potential downside of 3.78%. Given First Western Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe First Western Financial is more favorable than Heartland BancCorp..

Profitability

This table compares First Western Financial and Heartland BancCorp.’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Western Financial	7.08%	5.09%	0.43%
Heartland BancCorp.	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares First Western Financial and Heartland BancCorp.”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Western Financial	$101.94 million	2.41	$13.19 million	$1.35	18.73
Heartland BancCorp.	$119.21 million	2.74	$20.26 million	$9.76	16.39

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

Summary

First Western Financial beats Heartland BancCorp. on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Western Financial

First Western Financial, Inc., a financial holding company, provides wealth advisory, private baking, personal trust, investment management, mortgage lending, and institutional asset management services. The company operates through two segments: Wealth Management and Mortgage. The Wealth Management segment provides deposit, loan, life insurance, and trust and investment management advisory products and services. The Mortgage segment engages in soliciting, originating, and selling mortgage loans into the secondary market. It serves entrepreneurs, professionals, high net worth individuals or families, and business and philanthropic organizations. First Western Financial, Inc. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

About Heartland BancCorp.

Heartland BancCorp operates as the bank holding company for Heartland Bank that provides various banking and financial services to individual and corporate customers. The company offers personal and business checking and savings accounts. It also provides various lending solutions comprising agricultural loans, commercial and business lending, home and personal loans, and title services. In addition, the company offers online banking, treasury management, credit and debit card, and mobile wallet services. Further, it provides education planning, insurance, wealth management, and retirement planning services. Heartland BancCorp was founded in 1911 and is based in Whitehall, Ohio.