Prospector Partners LLC Purchases 4,035 Shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Prospector Partners LLC raised its stake in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 211,361 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,035 shares during the quarter. Prospector Partners LLC owned about 0.31% of Ameris Bancorp worth $10,642,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Ameris Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,869,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 75.0% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 416,557 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,153,000 after purchasing an additional 178,500 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,154,000. Congress Asset Management Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 5.5% in the first quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 767,156 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $37,115,000 after buying an additional 40,323 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP increased its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 218.6% during the first quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 22,363 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,082,000 after buying an additional 15,343 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Performance

ABCB stock opened at $64.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a PE ratio of 15.59 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $59.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.07. Ameris Bancorp has a 1-year low of $34.26 and a 1-year high of $65.40.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $436.03 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $273.67 million. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.97% and a net margin of 19.28%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABCB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Ameris Bancorp from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $61.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Stephens raised their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $52.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.00.

Ameris Bancorp 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.