Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) Shares Bought by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 62,566 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,005 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.09% of Ameris Bancorp worth $3,903,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,560,371 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $365,771,000 after buying an additional 92,491 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,374,719 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $220,263,000 after acquiring an additional 45,240 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 2,533,580 shares of the bank’s stock worth $127,566,000 after acquiring an additional 19,287 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,263,487 shares of the bank’s stock worth $78,829,000 after purchasing an additional 55,473 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 863,294 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $53,861,000 after purchasing an additional 12,054 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABCB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stephens boosted their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com upgraded Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $61.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ameris Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.67.

Insider Activity at Ameris Bancorp

In other Ameris Bancorp news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.91, for a total transaction of $559,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,918,610.04. This trade represents a 22.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Ameris Bancorp Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ABCB opened at $71.79 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $64.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.62. The company has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a PE ratio of 14.96 and a beta of 1.01. Ameris Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $41.00 and a fifty-two week high of $72.68.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $424.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $290.60 million. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.18% and a net margin of 20.08%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.50%.

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.