Arizona State Retirement System Has $876,000 Holdings in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB – Get Rating) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,593 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Ameris Bancorp were worth $876,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ABCB. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 89.5% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 667 shares of the bank’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Ameris Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $41,000. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 41.9% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,269 shares of the bank’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. bought a new position in Ameris Bancorp during the third quarter worth about $72,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd lifted its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 202.5% during the first quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 2,211 shares of the bank’s stock worth $97,000 after acquiring an additional 1,480 shares in the last quarter. 86.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com lowered Ameris Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 31st. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a report on Friday, March 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Ameris Bancorp to $54.00 in a report on Thursday, April 6th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Monday, May 1st. Finally, Stephens assumed coverage on Ameris Bancorp in a report on Monday, April 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $41.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.40.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William I. Jr. Bowen bought 670 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 10th. The shares were bought at an average price of $41.20 per share, with a total value of $27,604.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 22,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $942,326.40. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider James A. Lahaise bought 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $33.03 per share, with a total value of $330,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 79,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,626,413.48. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director William I. Jr. Bowen purchased 670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $41.20 per share, with a total value of $27,604.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 22,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $942,326.40. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have bought 31,670 shares of company stock valued at $975,974. 5.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ameris Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ABCB opened at $30.19 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $34.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.12. The company has a market cap of $2.09 billion, a PE ratio of 6.44 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Ameris Bancorp has a twelve month low of $28.33 and a twelve month high of $54.24.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 28th. The bank reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.34). The business had revenue of $267.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $264.36 million. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.94% and a net margin of 25.82%. Ameris Bancorp’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 31st were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 30th. Ameris Bancorp’s payout ratio is 12.79%.

Ameris Bancorp Company Profile

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Ameris Bancorp is a bank holding company, which through the subsidiary, Ameris Bank, engages in the provision of banking services to its retail and commercial customers. It operates through the following business segments: Banking, Retail Mortgage, Warehouse Lending, the SBA and Premium Finance. The Banking segment offers full service financial services to include commercial loans, consumer loans and deposit accounts.