Berkshire Hills Bancorp (BHLB) Competitors

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

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in BHLB or ABCB?

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

Is BHLB or ABCB a better dividend stock?

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

Does the media refer more to BHLB or ABCB?

In the previous week, Berkshire Hills Bancorp and Berkshire Hills Bancorp both had 3 articles in the media. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.39 beat Berkshire Hills Bancorp's score of 0.00 indicating that Ameris Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

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

Do analysts prefer BHLB or ABCB?

Berkshire Hills Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $31.13, suggesting a potential upside of 18.73%. Ameris Bancorp has a consensus target price of $71.43, suggesting a potential upside of 6.14%. Given Berkshire Hills Bancorp's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Berkshire Hills Bancorp is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Berkshire Hills Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83
Ameris Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86

Which has more risk and volatility, BHLB or ABCB?

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

Is BHLB or ABCB 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
Berkshire Hills Bancorp	15.02%	9.13%	0.84%
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%

Which has higher valuation & earnings, BHLB or ABCB?

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
Berkshire Hills Bancorp	$696.05M	1.74	$61M	$2.47	10.61
Ameris Bancorp	$1.12B	4.13	$358.68M	$5.40	12.46

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats Berkshire Hills Bancorp on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.