Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $92.1667.

ABCB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a research report on Monday, April 27th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Stephens increased their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Ameris Bancorp to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Down 0.1%

NASDAQ ABCB opened at $90.92 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $6.12 billion, a PE ratio of 17.45 and a beta of 0.91. Ameris Bancorp has a one year low of $64.30 and a one year high of $91.41. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $85.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $314.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $309.58 million. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 21.46%.During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.28 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.58%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ABCB. North Reef Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 25.1% in the 1st quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 3,423,243 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $266,979,000 after purchasing an additional 686,215 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,199,365 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $238,250,000 after purchasing an additional 12,475 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 31.3% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,741,214 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $129,320,000 after purchasing an additional 414,920 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,258,436 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $92,256,000 after purchasing an additional 39,478 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 1,083,272 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $80,455,000 after purchasing an additional 14,735 shares during the period. 91.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ameris Bancorp Company Profile

Ameris Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Through its principal subsidiary, Ameris Bank, the company offers a broad range of commercial and retail banking services to individuals, small businesses, middle market companies and agricultural customers. Its core business lines encompass deposit services, lending solutions, treasury management, mortgage origination and servicing, insurance products and wealth management.

Ameris Bancorp operates a network of branches and loan production offices across the southeastern United States, including Georgia, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.