Pinnacle Financial Partners (PNFP) Competitors

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

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

91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.4% of Pinnacle Financial Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Pinnacle Financial Partners shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is ABCB or PNFP a better dividend stock?

Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Pinnacle Financial Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Pinnacle Financial Partners pays out 15.5% 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. Pinnacle Financial Partners has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Ameris Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Is ABCB or PNFP more profitable?

Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 21.46% compared to Pinnacle Financial Partners' net margin of 15.98%. Ameris Bancorp's return on equity of 9.57% beat Pinnacle Financial Partners' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%
Pinnacle Financial Partners	15.98%	9.29%	1.11%

Which has higher valuation and earnings, ABCB or PNFP?

Pinnacle Financial Partners has higher revenue and earnings than Ameris Bancorp. Ameris Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Pinnacle Financial Partners, 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	$1.12B	4.15	$358.68M	$5.40	12.54
Pinnacle Financial Partners	$3.07B	2.98	$475.06M	$6.18	19.07

Does the media favor ABCB or PNFP?

In the previous week, Pinnacle Financial Partners had 14 more articles in the media than Ameris Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for Pinnacle Financial Partners and 4 mentions for Ameris Bancorp. Pinnacle Financial Partners' average media sentiment score of 1.11 beat Ameris Bancorp's score of 0.59 indicating that Pinnacle Financial Partners is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ameris Bancorp	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Pinnacle Financial Partners	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, ABCB or PNFP?

Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pinnacle Financial Partners has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer ABCB or PNFP?

Ameris Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $71.43, suggesting a potential upside of 5.45%. Pinnacle Financial Partners has a consensus price target of $122.36, suggesting a potential upside of 3.85%. Given Ameris Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Ameris Bancorp is more favorable than Pinnacle Financial Partners.

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
Pinnacle Financial Partners	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.73

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats Pinnacle Financial Partners on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.