FFIN vs. ABCB, BANR, FRME, GBCI, OBK, SSB, UBSI, WSFS, CBU, and PB
Should you be buying First Financial Bankshares stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of First Financial Bankshares include Ameris Bancorp (ABCB), Banner (BANR), First Merchants (FRME), Glacier Bancorp (GBCI), Origin Bancorp (OBK), SouthState (SSB), United Bankshares (UBSI), WSFS Financial (WSFS), Community Financial System (CBU), and Prosperity Bancshares (PB). These companies are all part of the "finance" sector.
First Financial Bankshares vs. Its Competitors
First Financial Bankshares (NASDAQ:FFIN) and Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and media sentiment.
First Financial Bankshares has a net margin of 31.01% compared to Ameris Bancorp's net margin of 21.46%. First Financial Bankshares' return on equity of 14.69% beat Ameris Bancorp's return on equity.
First Financial Bankshares has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.
First Financial Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. First Financial Bankshares pays out 44.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.1% 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. First Financial Bankshares has raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years. First Financial Bankshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
First Financial Bankshares currently has a consensus target price of $39.00, suggesting a potential upside of 11.84%. Ameris Bancorp has a consensus target price of $72.14, suggesting a potential downside of 4.84%. Given First Financial Bankshares' higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe First Financial Bankshares is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.
In the previous week, Ameris Bancorp had 3 more articles in the media than First Financial Bankshares. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Ameris Bancorp and 4 mentions for First Financial Bankshares. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.32 beat First Financial Bankshares' score of 0.91 indicating that Ameris Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
69.8% of First Financial Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 4.2% of First Financial Bankshares shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Ameris Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than First Financial Bankshares. Ameris Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Financial Bankshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Ameris Bancorp beats First Financial Bankshares on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding FFIN and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartMedia Sentiment Over Time
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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This page (NASDAQ:FFIN) was last updated on 9/20/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff