First Hawaiian (FHB) Competitors

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

Do analysts recommend FHB or ABCB?

First Hawaiian currently has a consensus target price of $27.64, indicating a potential upside of 16.49%. Ameris Bancorp has a consensus target price of $72.14, indicating a potential upside of 9.46%. Given First Hawaiian's higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe First Hawaiian is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Hawaiian	4 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.43
Ameris Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86

Which has more volatility and risk, FHB or ABCB?

First Hawaiian has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, FHB or ABCB?

Ameris Bancorp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than First Hawaiian. Ameris Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than First Hawaiian, 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
First Hawaiian	$1.17B	2.56	$230.13M	$1.94	12.23
Ameris Bancorp	$1.14B	3.98	$358.68M	$5.68	11.60

Is FHB or ABCB a better dividend stock?

First Hawaiian pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. First Hawaiian pays out 53.6% 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.

Is FHB or ABCB more profitable?

Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 21.46% compared to First Hawaiian's net margin of 21.45%. Ameris Bancorp's return on equity of 9.57% beat First Hawaiian's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Hawaiian	21.45%	9.29%	1.04%
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%

Does the media refer more to FHB or ABCB?

In the previous week, Ameris Bancorp had 10 more articles in the media than First Hawaiian. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Ameris Bancorp and 5 mentions for First Hawaiian. First Hawaiian's average media sentiment score of 0.85 beat Ameris Bancorp's score of 0.67 indicating that First Hawaiian is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Hawaiian	2 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ameris Bancorp	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in FHB or ABCB?

97.6% of First Hawaiian shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of First Hawaiian shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned 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.

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats First Hawaiian on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.