Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) Shares Purchased by GAMMA Investing LLC

GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 17.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,332 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 202 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Ameris Bancorp were worth $83,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ABCB. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 1.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 863,294 shares of the bank’s stock worth $53,861,000 after purchasing an additional 12,054 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 4.6% during the third 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 period. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 21,107 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,317,000 after buying an additional 2,575 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 135.5% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 115,194 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,187,000 after buying an additional 66,287 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $233,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 27,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,918,610.04. This trade represents a 22.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of Ameris Bancorp stock opened at $59.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Ameris Bancorp has a 1-year low of $44.00 and a 1-year high of $74.56. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $66.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.73. The company has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.39 and a beta of 1.06.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $424.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $290.60 million. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 20.08% and a return on equity of 9.18%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.16 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 EPS for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.20 dividend. This is a positive change from Ameris Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ABCB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com raised Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Stephens raised their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded 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 research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Ameris Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.17.

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.