Prospector Partners LLC Reduces Stock Position in Ameris Bancorp $ABCB

Prospector Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 94.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,281 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 222,652 shares during the period. Ameris Bancorp accounts for approximately 2.1% of Prospector Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Prospector Partners LLC’s holdings in Ameris Bancorp were worth $986,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,199,365 shares of the bank’s stock worth $238,250,000 after buying an additional 12,475 shares during the period. North Reef Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 4.8% in the third quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 1,981,061 shares of the bank’s stock worth $145,232,000 after buying an additional 91,043 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 31.3% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,741,214 shares of the bank’s stock worth $129,320,000 after buying an additional 414,920 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 3.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,258,436 shares of the bank’s stock worth $92,256,000 after buying an additional 39,478 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC lifted its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 1,083,272 shares of the bank’s stock worth $80,455,000 after buying an additional 14,735 shares during the period. 91.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on ABCB. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a report on Monday, April 27th. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.17.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:ABCB opened at $89.09 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.10 and a beta of 0.91. Ameris Bancorp has a 12-month low of $59.54 and a 12-month high of $89.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $314.36 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $309.58 million. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 21.46%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.28 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Ameris Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 12.58%.

Ameris Bancorp Profile

Ameris Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Through its principal subsidiary, Ameris Bank, the company offers a broad range of commercial and retail banking services to individuals, small businesses, middle market companies and agricultural customers. Its core business lines encompass deposit services, lending solutions, treasury management, mortgage origination and servicing, insurance products and wealth management.

Ameris Bancorp operates a network of branches and loan production offices across the southeastern United States, including Georgia, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.