Wintrust Financial (WTFC) Competitors

Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ:WTFC) and Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends, media sentiment, valuation, risk and analyst recommendations.

Is WTFC or ABCB a better dividend stock?

Wintrust Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Wintrust Financial pays out 19.8% 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. Wintrust Financial has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Wintrust Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, WTFC or ABCB?

Wintrust Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Ameris Bancorp. Ameris Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Wintrust Financial, 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
Wintrust Financial	$3.97B	2.23	$695.04M	$10.11	13.05
Ameris Bancorp	$1.12B	4.15	$358.68M	$5.40	12.54

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

93.5% of Wintrust Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Wintrust Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is WTFC or ABCB more profitable?

Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 21.46% compared to Wintrust Financial's net margin of 17.32%. Wintrust Financial's return on equity of 12.00% beat Ameris Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Wintrust Financial	17.32%	12.00%	1.10%
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%

Does the media refer more to WTFC or ABCB?

In the previous week, Wintrust Financial had 6 more articles in the media than Ameris Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for Wintrust Financial and 5 mentions for Ameris Bancorp. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.67 beat Wintrust Financial's score of 0.66 indicating that Ameris Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Wintrust Financial	6 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ameris Bancorp	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer WTFC or ABCB?

Wintrust Financial presently has a consensus target price of $135.77, indicating a potential upside of 2.92%. Ameris Bancorp has a consensus target price of $71.43, indicating a potential upside of 5.45%. Given Ameris Bancorp's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ameris Bancorp is more favorable than Wintrust Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Wintrust Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.92
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, WTFC or ABCB?

Wintrust Financial has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its share price is 18% 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.

Summary

Wintrust Financial beats Ameris Bancorp on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.