Renasant (RNST) Competitors

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

Do analysts prefer ABCB or RNST?

Ameris Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $72.14, suggesting a potential downside of 2.00%. Renasant has a consensus target price of $41.67, suggesting a potential upside of 6.17%. Given Renasant's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Renasant 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
Renasant	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, ABCB or RNST?

Ameris Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Renasant. Ameris Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Renasant, 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	4.48	$358.68M	$5.68	12.96
Renasant	$771.83M	4.83	$195.46M	$2.54	15.45

Which has more risk and volatility, ABCB or RNST?

Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Renasant has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer ABCB or RNST?

In the previous week, Renasant had 1 more articles in the media than Ameris Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Renasant and 7 mentions for Ameris Bancorp. Renasant's average media sentiment score of 1.59 beat Ameris Bancorp's score of 1.54 indicating that Renasant is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ameris Bancorp	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Renasant	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Is ABCB or RNST more profitable?

Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 21.46% compared to Renasant's net margin of 17.91%. Ameris Bancorp's return on equity of 9.57% beat Renasant's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%
Renasant	17.91%	6.58%	0.93%

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

91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.3% of Renasant shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.5% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Renasant shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is ABCB or RNST a better dividend stock?

Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Renasant pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Renasant pays out 34.6% 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.

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats Renasant on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.