Berkshire Hills Bancorp (BHLB) Competitors

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

Do analysts recommend ABCB or BHLB?

Ameris Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $71.43, indicating a potential upside of 5.45%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a consensus price target of $31.13, indicating a potential upside of 15.11%. Given Berkshire Hills Bancorp's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Berkshire Hills 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
Berkshire Hills Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83

Does the media prefer ABCB or BHLB?

In the previous week, Ameris Bancorp had 4 more articles in the media than Berkshire Hills Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Ameris Bancorp and 0 mentions for Berkshire Hills Bancorp. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.47 beat Berkshire Hills Bancorp's score of 0.00 indicating that Ameris Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Ameris Bancorp	Neutral
Berkshire Hills Bancorp	Neutral

Is ABCB or BHLB a better dividend stock?

Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Berkshire Hills Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Berkshire Hills Bancorp pays out 29.1% 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.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in ABCB or BHLB?

91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.1% of Berkshire Hills Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Berkshire Hills Bancorp shares are held 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.

Which has more risk and volatility, ABCB or BHLB?

Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Berkshire Hills Bancorp has a beta of 0.61, suggesting that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is ABCB or BHLB more profitable?

Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 21.46% compared to Berkshire Hills Bancorp's net margin of 15.02%. Ameris Bancorp's return on equity of 9.57% beat Berkshire Hills Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%
Berkshire Hills Bancorp	15.02%	9.13%	0.84%

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, ABCB or BHLB?

Ameris Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Berkshire Hills Bancorp. Berkshire Hills Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ameris 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
Berkshire Hills Bancorp	$696.05M	1.80	$61M	$2.47	10.95

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats Berkshire Hills Bancorp on 16 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.