New York State Common Retirement Fund Grows Stock Position in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 276,624 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,090 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Ameris Bancorp were worth $14,675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Prospector Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp in the third quarter worth approximately $5,924,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Ameris Bancorp by 3.7% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,547,134 shares of the bank’s stock worth $97,784,000 after purchasing an additional 90,694 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 81.7% during the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 178,961 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,870,000 after purchasing an additional 80,466 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,049,000. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 704,319 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,039,000 after purchasing an additional 46,874 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ABCB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 1st. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $53.00 target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a research report on Monday, January 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ameris Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.00.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ABCB opened at $48.50 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.34. The company has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.80 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.04. Ameris Bancorp has a one year low of $28.33 and a one year high of $53.99.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The bank reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $267.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.05 million. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 18.06% and a return on equity of 8.62%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.86 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, March 31st were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameris Bancorp

In other news, insider Jon S. Edwards sold 7,500 shares of Ameris Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.35, for a total transaction of $355,125.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 59,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,826,368.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ameris Bancorp Company Profile

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.