Prosperity Bancshares (PB) Competitors

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE:PB) and Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership and profitability.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in PB or ABCB?

80.7% of Prosperity Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.2% of Prosperity Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, PB or ABCB?

Prosperity Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than Ameris Bancorp. Prosperity Bancshares 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
Prosperity Bancshares	$1.79B	3.46	$479.39M	$5.50	11.86
Ameris Bancorp	$1.13B	4.49	$358.68M	$5.68	12.98

Does the media prefer PB or ABCB?

In the previous week, Prosperity Bancshares had 8 more articles in the media than Ameris Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for Prosperity Bancshares and 1 mentions for Ameris Bancorp. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.63 beat Prosperity Bancshares' score of 0.34 indicating that Ameris Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Prosperity Bancshares	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Ameris Bancorp	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is PB or ABCB more profitable?

Prosperity Bancshares has a net margin of 29.37% compared to Ameris Bancorp's net margin of 21.46%. Ameris Bancorp's return on equity of 9.57% beat Prosperity Bancshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Prosperity Bancshares	29.37%	6.99%	1.33%
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%

Do analysts prefer PB or ABCB?

Prosperity Bancshares presently has a consensus price target of $82.38, indicating a potential upside of 26.32%. Ameris Bancorp has a consensus price target of $72.14, indicating a potential downside of 2.17%. Given Prosperity Bancshares' higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Prosperity Bancshares is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Prosperity Bancshares	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.63
Ameris Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86

Is PB or ABCB a better dividend stock?

Prosperity Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $2.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Prosperity Bancshares pays out 42.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.1% 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. Prosperity Bancshares has increased its dividend for 27 consecutive years. Prosperity Bancshares is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more volatility and risk, PB or ABCB?

Prosperity Bancshares has a beta of 0.73, meaning that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats Prosperity Bancshares on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.