Versor Investments LP Takes Position in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 5,600 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $349,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABCB. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Ameris Bancorp by 249.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 713 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 66.1% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 819 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 33.5% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the bank’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 3,396.4% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,923 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $120,000 after acquiring an additional 1,868 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABCB has been the topic of several analyst reports. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $61.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Raymond James raised Ameris Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.91, for a total value of $559,280.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,444 shares in the company, valued at $1,918,610.04. This 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 Price Performance

Shares of ABCB stock opened at $69.63 on Friday. Ameris Bancorp has a 1 year low of $40.71 and a 1 year high of $72.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $63.41 and its 200-day moving average is $56.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.51 and a beta of 1.01.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $424.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $290.60 million. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.18% and a net margin of 20.08%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.16 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. 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.