Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $74.37 and last traded at $73.87, with a volume of 25960 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $71.79.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABCB has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. 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 shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Stephens lifted their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.67.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.62. The stock has a market cap of $5.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.21 and a beta of 1.01.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $424.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $290.60 million. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 20.08% and a return on equity of 9.18%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 EPS for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.50%.

Insider Transactions at Ameris Bancorp

In related news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of the business’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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,918,610.04. The trade was a 22.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameris Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ABCB. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,560,371 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $365,771,000 after acquiring an additional 92,491 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 9.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 907,140 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,596,000 after acquiring an additional 79,060 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 107.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 140,001 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,735,000 after acquiring an additional 72,599 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 135.5% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 115,194 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,187,000 after acquiring an additional 66,287 shares during the period. Finally, Algert Global LLC lifted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 208.0% during the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 83,393 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,203,000 after purchasing an additional 56,320 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.