Amerant Bancorp (AMTB) Competitors

Amerant Bancorp (NASDAQ:AMTB) and Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, media sentiment, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Is AMTB or ABCB more profitable?

Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 21.46% compared to Amerant Bancorp's net margin of -8.38%. Ameris Bancorp's return on equity of 9.57% beat Amerant Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Amerant Bancorp	-8.38%	6.36%	0.51%
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%

Which has better earnings and valuation, AMTB or ABCB?

Ameris Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Amerant Bancorp. Amerant 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
Amerant Bancorp	$317.91M	2.55	-$15.75M	-$0.60	-32.30
Ameris Bancorp	$1.12B	4.08	$358.68M	$5.40	12.31

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of AMTB or ABCB?

42.1% of Amerant Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.4% of Amerant Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are owned 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.

Do analysts rate AMTB or ABCB?

Amerant Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $24.60, indicating a potential upside of 26.93%. Ameris Bancorp has a consensus price target of $71.43, indicating a potential upside of 7.49%. Given Amerant Bancorp's higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Amerant Bancorp is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Amerant Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40
Ameris Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86

Is AMTB or ABCB a better dividend stock?

Amerant Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Amerant Bancorp pays out -60.0% 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. Amerant Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has more volatility & risk, AMTB or ABCB?

Amerant Bancorp has a beta of 1.31, indicating that its stock price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor AMTB or ABCB?

In the previous week, Ameris Bancorp had 9 more articles in the media than Amerant Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Ameris Bancorp and 1 mentions for Amerant Bancorp. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.03 beat Amerant 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
Amerant Bancorp	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Ameris Bancorp	7 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats Amerant Bancorp on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.