Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) Stock

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) had its price objective upped by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the bank’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price points to a potential upside of 16.16% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. 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 research report on Monday, October 28th. Stephens lifted 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. StockNews.com upgraded Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.17.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ABCB opened at $68.87 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.70. Ameris Bancorp has a 12-month low of $44.00 and a 12-month high of $74.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $4.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.53 and a beta of 1.03.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last posted 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 9.18% and a net margin of 20.08%. The firm had revenue of $424.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $290.60 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.16 EPS. Analysts predict that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Ameris Bancorp news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of Ameris Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.91, for a total transaction of $559,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 27,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,918,610.04. The trade was a 22.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameris Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,374,719 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $220,263,000 after purchasing an additional 45,240 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 2,533,580 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $127,566,000 after purchasing an additional 19,287 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,263,487 shares of the bank’s stock worth $78,829,000 after buying an additional 55,473 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 907,140 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,596,000 after buying an additional 79,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 863,294 shares of the bank’s stock worth $53,861,000 after buying an additional 12,054 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

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.