ABCB vs. ASB, IBOC, UCBI, FBP, FIBK, HWC, COLB, CATY, AUB, and BOH
Should you be buying Ameris Bancorp stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Ameris Bancorp include Associated Banc (ASB), International Bancshares (IBOC), United Community Banks (UCBI), First BanCorp. (FBP), First Interstate BancSystem (FIBK), Hancock Whitney (HWC), Columbia Banking System (COLB), Cathay General Bancorp (CATY), Atlantic Union Bankshares (AUB), and Bank of Hawaii (BOH). These companies are all part of the "state commercial banks" industry.
Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) and Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, earnings, profitability, community ranking, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership and media sentiment.
Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 18.06% compared to Associated Banc's net margin of 6.86%. Ameris Bancorp's return on equity of 8.71% beat Associated Banc's return on equity.
In the previous week, Associated Banc had 9 more articles in the media than Ameris Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 22 mentions for Associated Banc and 13 mentions for Ameris Bancorp. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.74 beat Associated Banc's score of 0.39 indicating that Ameris Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.
91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.0% of Associated Banc shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Associated Banc shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Ameris Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $50.25, indicating a potential upside of 4.95%. Associated Banc has a consensus price target of $23.13, indicating a potential upside of 7.21%. Given Associated Banc's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Associated Banc is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.
Ameris Bancorp received 163 more outperform votes than Associated Banc when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.64% of users gave Ameris Bancorp an outperform vote while only 50.85% of users gave Associated Banc an outperform vote.
Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Associated Banc has a beta of 1, meaning that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.
Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Associated Banc pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Associated Banc pays out 88.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.
Ameris Bancorp has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Associated Banc. Ameris Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Associated Banc, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Ameris Bancorp beats Associated Banc on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding ABCB and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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