GW&K Investment Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in Ameris Bancorp $ABCB

GW&K Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 15.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 559,412 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 103,918 shares during the period. GW&K Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.82% of Ameris Bancorp worth $41,548,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABCB. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 29,288 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,687,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 39,181 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,256,000 after purchasing an additional 1,703 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 36.7% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 11,651 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $671,000 after purchasing an additional 3,129 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new stake in Ameris Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at $243,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 187,024 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,767,000 after purchasing an additional 13,633 shares in the last quarter. 91.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABCB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a report on Monday, April 27th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.17.

Ameris Bancorp Trading Up 0.5%

Ameris Bancorp stock opened at $86.53 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $83.79 and its 200-day moving average is $80.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.02. Ameris Bancorp has a 1 year low of $59.54 and a 1 year high of $87.99. The company has a market cap of $5.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61 and a beta of 0.91.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.09. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 21.46% and a return on equity of 9.57%. The company had revenue of $314.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $309.58 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 31st. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.58%.

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.