Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) Holdings Cut by State Street Corp

State Street Corp trimmed its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 0.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,247,709 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 10,537 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned about 4.70% of Ameris Bancorp worth $203,109,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 1.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,374,719 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $220,263,000 after buying an additional 45,240 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 2,533,580 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $127,566,000 after purchasing an additional 19,287 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,263,487 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $78,829,000 after purchasing an additional 55,473 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Ameris Bancorp by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 907,140 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,596,000 after purchasing an additional 79,060 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.4% in the third 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Ameris Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ:ABCB opened at $67.41 on Friday. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $66.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.44. Ameris Bancorp has a 52-week low of $44.00 and a 52-week high of $74.56. The firm has a market cap of $4.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.04 and a beta of 1.03.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last announced 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 company 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.16 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ABCB shares. StockNews.com upgraded Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Stephens increased their price target on Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.17.

Insider Transactions at Ameris Bancorp

In other Ameris Bancorp news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,918,610.04. This represents a 22.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

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.