Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) Receives $86.50 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $86.50.

ABCB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. DA Davidson set a $94.00 price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameris Bancorp

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 0.4% in the 4th 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 last quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 38.2% in the fourth quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 2,737,028 shares of the bank’s stock worth $203,279,000 after buying an additional 755,967 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 31.3% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,741,214 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $129,320,000 after acquiring an additional 414,920 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,258,436 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $92,256,000 after acquiring an additional 39,478 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC boosted its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 1,083,272 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $80,455,000 after acquiring an additional 14,735 shares during the period. 91.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Performance

Ameris Bancorp stock opened at $85.19 on Wednesday. Ameris Bancorp has a 1-year low of $52.03 and a 1-year high of $87.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.82 billion, a PE ratio of 16.35 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.28.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The bank reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $309.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $310.48 million. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 21.46% and a return on equity of 9.57%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.38 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Ameris Bancorp’s payout ratio is 13.33%.

Ameris Bancorp Company 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.