Ameris Bancorp’s (ABCB) “Equal Weight” Rating Reaffirmed at Stephens

Stephens reaffirmed their equal weight rating on shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $71.00 price objective on the bank’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on ABCB. Raymond James upgraded shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com upgraded Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Ameris Bancorp from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.83.

Ameris Bancorp Trading Down 0.1 %

ABCB opened at $65.54 on Friday. Ameris Bancorp has a 1-year low of $44.22 and a 1-year high of $74.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $65.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.53 billion, a PE ratio of 13.65 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Ameris Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.20 dividend. This is a positive change from Ameris Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ameris Bancorp news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.91, for a total value of $559,280.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 27,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,918,610.04. This trade represents a 22.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ameris Bancorp

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 85.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 34,473 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,736,000 after acquiring an additional 15,928 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at about $207,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 26.0% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 15,530 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $969,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 38.0% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,130 shares of the bank’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 105.8% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,696 shares of the bank’s stock worth $168,000 after buying an additional 1,386 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

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.