Comparing Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) and United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCB)

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) and United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCB) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Ameris Bancorp and United Community Banks, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ameris Bancorp	0	1	6	0	2.86
United Community Banks	0	4	3	0	2.43

Ameris Bancorp currently has a consensus target price of $72.14, suggesting a potential downside of 1.65%. United Community Banks has a consensus target price of $34.57, suggesting a potential upside of 3.49%. Given United Community Banks’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe United Community Banks is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.

Volatility & Risk

Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Community Banks has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Ameris Bancorp and United Community Banks”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ameris Bancorp	$1.13 billion	4.47	$358.68 million	$5.68	12.91
United Community Banks	$952.89 million	4.26	$252.40 million	$2.20	15.18

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

Profitability

This table compares Ameris Bancorp and United Community Banks’ 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%
United Community Banks	16.48%	8.64%	1.04%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.3% of United Community Banks shares are held by institutional investors. 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of United Community Banks shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. United Community Banks pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. United Community Banks pays out 45.5% 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 United Community Banks on 13 of the 16 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 United Community Banks

United Community Banks, Inc. operates as the financial holding company for United Community Bank that provides financial products and services to commercial, retail, government, education, energy, health care, and real estate sectors. It accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts. The company also offers lending services, including real estate, consumer, and commercial loans, to individuals, small businesses, mid-sized commercial businesses, and non-profit organizations, as well as secured and unsecured, and mortgage loans. In addition, it originates loans partially guaranteed by the SBA and USDA loan programs. Further, the company provides wealth management services comprising financial planning, customized portfolio management, and investment advice; trust services to manage fiduciary assets; non-deposit investment products; and insurance products, including life insurance, long-term care insurance, and tax-deferred annuities, as well as invests in residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, the U.S. treasury, the U.S. agency, and municipal obligations. Additionally, it offers reinsurance on a property insurance contract; insurance agency services; treasury management; credit cards; payment and commerce solution, equipment finance, investment advisory, and other related financial services; brokerage services; and payment processing, merchant, wire transfer, private banking, and other related financial services. The company was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Blairsville, Georgia.