BOK Financial (BOKF) Competitors

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) and BOK Financial (NASDAQ:BOKF) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, media sentiment, risk, earnings, dividends, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

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

91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 34.4% of BOK Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.5% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 56.9% of BOK Financial 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.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, ABCB or BOKF?

BOK Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Ameris Bancorp. Ameris Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BOK Financial, 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
BOK Financial	$3.48B	2.04	$523.57M	$8.35	13.38

Does the media prefer ABCB or BOKF?

In the previous week, Ameris Bancorp had 4 more articles in the media than BOK Financial. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Ameris Bancorp and 3 mentions for BOK Financial. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.62 beat BOK Financial's score of 1.55 indicating that Ameris Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the 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
BOK Financial	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Is ABCB or BOKF a better dividend stock?

Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. BOK Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. BOK Financial pays out 27.3% 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. BOK Financial has raised its dividend for 20 consecutive years. BOK Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is ABCB or BOKF more profitable?

Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 21.46% compared to BOK Financial's net margin of 15.80%. Ameris Bancorp's return on equity of 9.57% beat BOK Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%
BOK Financial	15.80%	9.39%	1.07%

Do analysts recommend ABCB or BOKF?

Ameris Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $72.14, indicating a potential downside of 2.00%. BOK Financial has a consensus target price of $112.58, indicating a potential upside of 0.76%. Given BOK Financial's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe BOK Financial 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
BOK Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.27

Which has more risk and volatility, ABCB or BOKF?

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

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats BOK Financial on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.