Fmr LLC Buys 18,822 Shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Fmr LLC grew its position in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 24.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 94,887 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 18,822 shares during the period. Fmr LLC owned approximately 0.14% of Ameris Bancorp worth $5,920,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ABCB. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 33.5% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the bank’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 461.0% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 21,992 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,107,000 after buying an additional 18,072 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments raised its position in Ameris Bancorp by 10.2% during the 2nd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 15,066 shares of the bank’s stock worth $759,000 after purchasing an additional 1,394 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Ameris Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 1.9% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 32,600 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ABCB. StockNews.com raised shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stephens increased their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Raymond James raised Ameris Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Two investment 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 $69.17.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ ABCB opened at $67.41 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.04 and a beta of 1.03. Ameris Bancorp has a 52 week low of $44.00 and a 52 week high of $74.56. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $66.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $424.86 million for 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 business earned $1.16 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameris Bancorp

In other news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of Ameris Bancorp stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.91, for a total transaction of $559,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 27,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,918,610.04. The trade was a 22.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.