Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 80.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,720 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,017 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ameris Bancorp were worth $834,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 0.9% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,256,044 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $375,166,000 after purchasing an additional 91,407 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 2.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,346,699 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $328,470,000 after purchasing an additional 158,489 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 7.4% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,201,328 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $228,235,000 after purchasing an additional 358,777 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 14.3% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,897,720 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $171,622,000 after purchasing an additional 488,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 3.7% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,547,134 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $97,784,000 after purchasing an additional 90,694 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of ABCB stock opened at $44.44 on Wednesday. Ameris Bancorp has a one year low of $28.33 and a one year high of $53.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $46.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.39 and a beta of 1.05.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.12 by ($0.05). Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.30% and a net margin of 17.67%. The company had revenue of $262.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $267.23 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 8th. Investors of record on Sunday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jon S. Edwards sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.35, for a total transaction of $355,125.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 59,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,826,368.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on ABCB. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $53.00 price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a research report on Monday, January 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ameris Bancorp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.25.

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.