Pacific Premier Bancorp (PPBI) Competitors

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

Is ABCB or PPBI a better dividend stock?

Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Pacific Premier Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Pacific Premier Bancorp pays out 86.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in ABCB or PPBI?

91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.1% of Pacific Premier Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.3% of Pacific Premier Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts rate ABCB or PPBI?

Ameris Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $71.43, suggesting a potential upside of 5.45%. Pacific Premier Bancorp has a consensus target price of $27.25, suggesting a potential upside of 17.97%. Given Pacific Premier Bancorp's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Pacific Premier Bancorp 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
Pacific Premier Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, ABCB or PPBI?

Ameris Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Pacific Premier Bancorp. Ameris Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Pacific Premier Bancorp, 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
Pacific Premier Bancorp	$905.41M	2.48	$158.80M	$1.52	15.20

Which has more risk and volatility, ABCB or PPBI?

Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pacific Premier Bancorp has a beta of 1.16, meaning that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is ABCB or PPBI more profitable?

Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 21.46% compared to Pacific Premier Bancorp's net margin of 16.89%. Ameris Bancorp's return on equity of 9.57% beat Pacific Premier Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%
Pacific Premier Bancorp	16.89%	5.01%	0.82%

Does the media refer more to ABCB or PPBI?

In the previous week, Ameris Bancorp and Ameris Bancorp both had 5 articles in the media. Pacific Premier Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.88 beat Ameris Bancorp's score of 0.47 indicating that Pacific Premier Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ameris Bancorp	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Pacific Premier Bancorp	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats Pacific Premier Bancorp on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.