Stifel Financial Corp Grows Stock Holdings in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 21,107 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,575 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Ameris Bancorp were worth $1,317,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 851,240 shares of the bank’s stock worth $42,860,000 after buying an additional 13,418 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC purchased a new stake in Ameris Bancorp during the second quarter worth $1,059,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ameris Bancorp in the third quarter valued at $233,000. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 32.5% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 142,122 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,867,000 after buying an additional 34,881 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake 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 worth $7,187,000 after buying an additional 66,287 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ABCB shares. Raymond James upgraded shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 27,444 shares in the company, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ ABCB opened at $62.81 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $66.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.12. The company has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.09 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Ameris Bancorp has a 12-month low of $44.00 and a 12-month high of $74.56.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.13. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 20.08% and a return on equity of 9.18%. The business had revenue of $424.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $290.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.16 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.20 dividend. This is a boost from Ameris Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 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.