Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Lowers Holdings in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky reduced its position in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 4.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 72,402 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 3,283 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky owned about 0.10% of Ameris Bancorp worth $3,502,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Ameris Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $203,000. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $205,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp in the first quarter valued at $190,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $211,000. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABCB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $61.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $54.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Ameris Bancorp from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Stephens increased their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $52.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.20.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ABCB traded down $2.09 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $56.32. 561,115 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 453,996. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.70 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Ameris Bancorp has a 52 week low of $34.26 and a 52 week high of $64.88.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.03. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 19.28% and a return on equity of 8.97%. The company had revenue of $436.03 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $273.67 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Investors of record on Sunday, June 30th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.07%. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.60%.

Ameris Bancorp 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.