Peoples Bancorp (PEBO) Competitors

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

Which has more volatility and risk, PEBO or ABCB?

Peoples Bancorp has a beta of 0.75, indicating that its share price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 1.02, indicating that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is PEBO or ABCB more profitable?

Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 21.46% compared to Peoples Bancorp's net margin of 18.90%. Peoples Bancorp's return on equity of 11.07% beat Ameris Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Peoples Bancorp	18.90%	11.07%	1.31%
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%

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

60.7% of Peoples Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 3.4% of Peoples Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.5% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor PEBO or ABCB?

In the previous week, Ameris Bancorp had 10 more articles in the media than Peoples Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Ameris Bancorp and 2 mentions for Peoples Bancorp. Peoples Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.62 beat Ameris Bancorp's score of 1.32 indicating that Peoples Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Peoples Bancorp	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Ameris Bancorp	9 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better valuation & earnings, PEBO or ABCB?

Ameris Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Peoples Bancorp. Peoples 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
Peoples Bancorp	$443.83M	2.41	$117.21M	$3.31	9.04
Ameris Bancorp	$1.10B	3.70	$358.68M	$5.21	11.35

Do analysts prefer PEBO or ABCB?

Peoples Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $36.90, suggesting a potential upside of 23.29%. Ameris Bancorp has a consensus target price of $70.50, suggesting a potential upside of 19.27%. Given Peoples Bancorp's higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Peoples Bancorp is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Peoples 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)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83

Does the MarketBeat Community favor PEBO or ABCB?

Ameris Bancorp received 139 more outperform votes than Peoples Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.50% of users gave Ameris Bancorp an outperform vote while only 56.06% of users gave Peoples Bancorp an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Peoples Bancorp	Outperform Votes 273 56.06%	Underperform Votes 214 43.94%
Ameris Bancorp	Outperform Votes 412 65.50%	Underperform Votes 217 34.50%

Is PEBO or ABCB a better dividend stock?

Peoples Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Peoples Bancorp pays out 48.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ameris Bancorp pays out 15.4% 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.

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats Peoples Bancorp on 16 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.