CIBC Asset Management Inc Trims Position in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

CIBC Asset Management Inc trimmed its position in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 2.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,224 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 164 shares during the quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Ameris Bancorp were worth $388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,560,371 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $365,771,000 after purchasing an additional 92,491 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 1.0% in the second 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 raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 19,287 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 worth $78,829,000 after purchasing an additional 55,473 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 1.4% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 863,294 shares of the bank’s stock worth $53,861,000 after acquiring an additional 12,054 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameris Bancorp

In related news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 27,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,918,610.04. This represents a 22.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Ameris Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of Ameris Bancorp stock opened at $69.74 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $64.17 and a 200 day moving average of $57.35. Ameris Bancorp has a 12 month low of $41.00 and a 12 month high of $72.68. The firm has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a PE ratio of 14.53 and a beta of 1.01. 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 (NASDAQ:ABCB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $424.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $290.60 million. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.18% and a net margin of 20.08%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.16 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. Ameris Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 12.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ABCB shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James upgraded 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Stephens boosted their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.67.

Ameris Bancorp 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.