Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $86.50.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ABCB. Stephens upped their price target on Ameris Bancorp from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted 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. DA Davidson set a $94.00 target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Piper Sandler set a $84.00 target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd.

Institutional Trading of Ameris Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ABCB. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 6,308 shares of the bank’s stock worth $468,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 9,365 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $696,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 9,054 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $672,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 3.0% during the third quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 5,231 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $384,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 6,456 shares of the bank’s stock worth $476,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. 91.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Down 4.8%

Ameris Bancorp stock opened at $79.68 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $79.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Ameris Bancorp has a twelve month low of $48.27 and a twelve month high of $87.98. The company has a market capitalization of $5.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.29 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Ameris Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 31st. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.