Head to Head Comparison: Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) versus Glacier Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBCI)

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) and Glacier Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBCI) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Dividends

Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Glacier Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $1.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Glacier Bancorp pays out 68.8% 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.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.2% of Glacier Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Glacier Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ameris Bancorp and Glacier Bancorp”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ameris Bancorp	$1.14 billion	4.32	$358.68 million	$5.68	12.61
Glacier Bancorp	$877.23 million	6.33	$190.14 million	$1.92	24.38

Ameris Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Glacier Bancorp. Ameris Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Glacier Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Ameris Bancorp and Glacier Bancorp, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ameris Bancorp	0	1	6	0	2.86
Glacier Bancorp	0	3	3	1	2.71

Ameris Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $72.1429, suggesting a potential upside of 0.72%. Glacier Bancorp has a consensus target price of $50.00, suggesting a potential upside of 6.81%. Given Glacier Bancorp’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Glacier Bancorp is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares Ameris Bancorp and Glacier Bancorp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameris Bancorp	21.46%	9.57%	1.32%
Glacier Bancorp	14.99%	5.98%	0.68%

Volatility & Risk

Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Glacier Bancorp has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Ameris Bancorp beats Glacier Bancorp on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ameris Bancorp

Ameris Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Ameris Bank that provides range of banking services to retail and commercial customers. It operates through five segments: Banking Division, Retail Mortgage Division, Warehouse Lending Division, SBA Division, and Premium Finance Division. The company offers commercial and retail checking, regular interest-bearing savings, money market, individual retirement, and certificates of deposit accounts. It also provides commercial real estate, residential real estate mortgage, agricultural, and commercial and industrial loans; consumer loans, including motor vehicle, home improvement, and home equity loans, as well as loans secured by savings accounts and personal credit lines. In addition, the company originates, administers, and services commercial insurance premium loans, equipment finance loans, and small business administration loans. It operates full service domestic banking offices, and mortgage and loan production offices. The company was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

About Glacier Bancorp

Glacier Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Glacier Bank that provides commercial banking services to individuals, small to medium-sized businesses, community organizations, and public entities in the United States. The company offers retail banking, business banking, and mortgage origination and loan servicing services. It also provides non-interest bearing deposit and interest bearing deposit accounts, such as negotiable order of withdrawal and demand deposit accounts, savings, money market deposits, fixed rate certificates of deposit, negotiated-rate jumbo certificates, and individual retirement accounts. In addition, the company offers construction and permanent loans on residential real estate; consumer land or lot loans; unimproved land and land development loans; and residential builder guidance lines comprising pre-sold and spec-home construction, and lot acquisition loans. Further, it provides commercial real estate loans to purchase, construct, and finance commercial real estate properties; consumer loans secured by real estate, automobiles, or other assets; home equity loans consisting of junior lien mortgages, and first and junior lien lines of credit secured by owner-occupied 1-4 family residences; and agriculture loans. Glacier Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Kalispell, Montana.