Jane Street Group LLC Boosts Holdings in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 19.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 71,884 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 11,515 shares during the quarter. Jane Street Group LLC owned about 0.10% of Ameris Bancorp worth $4,485,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 9.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 907,140 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,596,000 after acquiring an additional 79,060 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 135.5% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 115,194 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,187,000 after purchasing an additional 66,287 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 208.0% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 83,393 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,203,000 after purchasing an additional 56,320 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 4.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,263,487 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $78,829,000 after purchasing an additional 55,473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 18.6% in the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 290,033 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,603,000 after purchasing an additional 45,450 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ABCB shares. Raymond James raised Ameris Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Truist Financial cut their target price 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. Stephens boosted 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameris Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of Ameris Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,918,610.04. The trade was a 22.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Ameris Bancorp Trading Down 2.5 %

ABCB stock opened at $65.34 on Wednesday. Ameris Bancorp has a twelve month low of $44.00 and a twelve month high of $74.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.61 and a beta of 1.03. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.98.

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

Ameris Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.50%.

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.