Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in Ameris Bancorp $ABCB

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 28,500 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $2,223,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 12,475 shares during the period. North Reef Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 38.2% in the 4th quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 2,737,028 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $203,279,000 after purchasing an additional 755,967 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 31.3% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,741,214 shares of the bank’s stock worth $129,320,000 after buying an additional 414,920 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,258,436 shares of the bank’s stock worth $92,256,000 after buying an additional 39,478 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC grew its position in Ameris Bancorp by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 1,083,272 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $80,455,000 after acquiring an additional 14,735 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ABCB shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ameris Bancorp to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $96.00 price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ameris Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.17.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of Ameris Bancorp stock opened at $90.27 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $85.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.50. Ameris Bancorp has a 1-year low of $64.30 and a 1-year high of $91.41. The company has a market cap of $6.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.33 and a beta of 0.91.

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

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be issued 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 payout ratio is presently 12.58%.

About Ameris Bancorp

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.