Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) Position Decreased by Commerce Bank

Commerce Bank lowered its holdings in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,830 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 305 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Ameris Bancorp were worth $551,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ABCB. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp during the second quarter valued at $33,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 249.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 713 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 66.1% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 819 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 326 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 33.5% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the bank’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 3,396.4% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,923 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $120,000 after acquiring an additional 1,868 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,918,610.04. This trade represents a 22.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABCB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James upgraded Ameris Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.67.

Ameris Bancorp Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ ABCB opened at $71.37 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.87 and a beta of 1.01. Ameris Bancorp has a 52 week low of $41.00 and a 52 week high of $74.56. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.03.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $424.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $290.60 million. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.18% and a net margin of 20.08%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.16 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. Ameris Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 12.50%.

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.