Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Lowers Stake in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System cut its stake in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 31,300 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,300 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Ameris Bancorp were worth $1,953,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABCB. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 75.0% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 416,557 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,153,000 after purchasing an additional 178,500 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,560,371 shares of the bank’s stock worth $365,771,000 after buying an additional 92,491 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Ameris Bancorp in the first quarter worth approximately $3,869,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its position in Ameris Bancorp by 164.8% during the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 119,164 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,765,000 after acquiring an additional 74,165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp during the second quarter worth approximately $2,462,000. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Performance

Ameris Bancorp stock opened at $62.29 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.16 and a beta of 1.01. Ameris Bancorp has a 1-year low of $34.76 and a 1-year high of $66.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $61.73 and a 200-day moving average of $55.05.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.13. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.97% and a net margin of 19.28%. The business had revenue of $424.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $290.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.16 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.82 EPS for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Ameris Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 14.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ABCB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Stephens upped their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com downgraded Ameris Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Raymond James raised Ameris Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.67.

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.