Atlantic Union Bankshares (AUB) Competitors

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) and Atlantic Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:AUB) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, ABCB or AUB?

Ameris Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Atlantic Union Bankshares. Ameris Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Atlantic Union Bankshares, 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
Ameris Bancorp	$1.13B	4.48	$358.68M	$5.68	12.96
Atlantic Union Bankshares	$1.05B	4.81	$209.13M	$2.06	17.25

Which has more volatility and risk, ABCB or AUB?

Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atlantic Union Bankshares has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of ABCB or AUB?

91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.6% of Atlantic Union Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. 5.5% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Atlantic Union Bankshares shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is ABCB or AUB more profitable?

Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 21.46% compared to Atlantic Union Bankshares' net margin of 15.53%. Ameris Bancorp's return on equity of 9.57% beat Atlantic Union Bankshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%
Atlantic Union Bankshares	15.53%	8.50%	1.06%

Is ABCB or AUB a better dividend stock?

Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Atlantic Union Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Atlantic Union Bankshares pays out 66.0% 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. Atlantic Union Bankshares has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Atlantic Union Bankshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts rate ABCB or AUB?

Ameris Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $72.14, indicating a potential downside of 2.00%. Atlantic Union Bankshares has a consensus target price of $38.33, indicating a potential upside of 7.86%. Given Atlantic Union Bankshares' higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Atlantic Union Bankshares is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ameris Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86
Atlantic Union Bankshares	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83

Does the media refer more to ABCB or AUB?

In the previous week, Atlantic Union Bankshares had 3 more articles in the media than Ameris Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Atlantic Union Bankshares and 7 mentions for Ameris Bancorp. Atlantic Union Bankshares' average media sentiment score of 1.54 beat Ameris Bancorp's score of 1.54 indicating that Atlantic Union Bankshares is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ameris Bancorp	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Atlantic Union Bankshares	9 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats Atlantic Union Bankshares on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.