Veritex (VBTX) Competitors

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

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

91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.3% of Veritex shares are held by institutional investors. 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.3% of Veritex shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility and risk, ABCB or VBTX?

Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Veritex has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer ABCB or VBTX?

Ameris Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $72.14, indicating a potential downside of 5.66%. Veritex has a consensus price target of $33.25, indicating a potential downside of 4.40%. Given Veritex's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Veritex 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
Veritex	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.63

Is ABCB or VBTX a better dividend stock?

Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Veritex pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Veritex pays out 41.9% 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. Veritex has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Veritex is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media refer more to ABCB or VBTX?

In the previous week, Ameris Bancorp had 1 more articles in the media than Veritex. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for Ameris Bancorp and 8 mentions for Veritex. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.32 beat Veritex's score of 1.10 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	5 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Veritex	5 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, ABCB or VBTX?

Ameris Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Veritex. Ameris Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Veritex, 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	4.66	$358.68M	$5.68	13.46
Veritex	$797.62M	2.39	$107.24M	$2.10	16.56

Is ABCB or VBTX more profitable?

Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 21.46% compared to Veritex's net margin of 14.83%. Ameris Bancorp's return on equity of 9.57% beat Veritex's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%
Veritex	14.83%	7.55%	0.96%

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats Veritex on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.