Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $69.17.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stephens upped their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James raised Ameris Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.91, for a total transaction of $559,280.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,918,610.04. This represents a 22.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ameris Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 249.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 713 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 38.0% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,130 shares of the bank’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 3,396.4% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,923 shares of the bank’s stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 1,868 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 105.8% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,696 shares of the bank’s stock worth $168,000 after purchasing an additional 1,386 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ameris Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $143,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Ameris Bancorp Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ ABCB opened at $62.80 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.85. Ameris Bancorp has a twelve month low of $44.00 and a twelve month high of $74.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a PE ratio of 13.08 and a beta of 1.03. 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 (NASDAQ:ABCB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.13. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 20.08% and a return on equity of 9.18%. The business had revenue of $424.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $290.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. This is an increase from Ameris Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.67%.

About Ameris Bancorp

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.