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 compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, media sentiment, profitability and earnings.

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 insiders. Comparatively, 2.3% of Pacific Premier Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

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 1.1%. Pacific Premier Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Pacific Premier Bancorp pays out 93.0% 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 analysts prefer ABCB or PPBI?

Ameris Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $72.14, suggesting a potential upside of 2.35%. Pacific Premier Bancorp has a consensus target price of $27.50, suggesting a potential upside of 18.40%. Given Pacific Premier Bancorp's higher possible upside, analysts plainly 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)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Which has more volatility & risk, ABCB or PPBI?

Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pacific Premier Bancorp has a beta of 1.19, suggesting that its share price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor ABCB or PPBI?

In the previous week, Ameris Bancorp had 1 more articles in the media than Pacific Premier Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Ameris Bancorp and 6 mentions for Pacific Premier Bancorp. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.07 beat Pacific Premier Bancorp's score of 0.72 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	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Pacific Premier Bancorp	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, 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	$1.13B	4.29	$358.68M	$5.68	12.41
Pacific Premier Bancorp	$905.41M	2.49	$158.80M	$1.42	16.36

Is ABCB or PPBI more profitable?

Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 21.46% compared to Pacific Premier Bancorp's net margin of 16.13%. 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	16.13%	4.85%	0.80%

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats Pacific Premier Bancorp on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.