Prosperity Bancshares (PB) Competitors

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

Which has more volatility & risk, PB or ABCB?

Prosperity Bancshares has a beta of 0.68, meaning that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better earnings & valuation, PB or ABCB?

Prosperity Bancshares has higher revenue and earnings than Ameris Bancorp. Ameris Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Prosperity Bancshares, 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	3.93	$479.39M	$5.25	14.05
Ameris Bancorp	$1.12B	4.14	$358.68M	$5.40	12.49

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 3.1%. Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Prosperity Bancshares pays out 44.2% 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. Prosperity Bancshares has raised 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.

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 hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer PB or ABCB?

In the previous week, Prosperity Bancshares had 7 more articles in the media than Ameris Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 19 mentions for Prosperity Bancshares and 12 mentions for Ameris Bancorp. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.13 beat Prosperity Bancshares' score of 0.90 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	10 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ameris Bancorp	9 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 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 27.69% 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	27.69%	6.81%	1.27%
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%

Do analysts recommend PB or ABCB?

Prosperity Bancshares presently has a consensus price target of $83.80, indicating a potential upside of 13.59%. Ameris Bancorp has a consensus price target of $71.43, indicating a potential upside of 5.92%. Given Prosperity Bancshares' higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly 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)	6 Hold rating(s)	10 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

Summary

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