State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 22,761 Shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its stake in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 36.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,605 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 22,761 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned 0.06% of Ameris Bancorp worth $1,994,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ABCB. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 66.1% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 819 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 33.5% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.8% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 18,359 shares of the bank’s stock worth $924,000 after buying an additional 331 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 1.0% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 56,626 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,740,000 after buying an additional 554 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 1.7% during the second quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 35,931 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,809,000 after buying an additional 593 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABCB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens increased their price target on Ameris Bancorp from $52.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on Ameris Bancorp from $61.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.00.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of ABCB opened at $64.00 on Friday. Ameris Bancorp has a one year low of $34.26 and a one year high of $65.40. The company has a market cap of $4.42 billion, a PE ratio of 15.66 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $59.30 and a 200-day moving average of $51.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.03. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.97% and a net margin of 19.28%. The firm had revenue of $436.03 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $273.67 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.60%.

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.