Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on ABCB. DA Davidson raised their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $61.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $52.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, 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 report on Monday, July 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ameris Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.00.

Ameris Bancorp Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ ABCB opened at $61.25 on Wednesday. Ameris Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $34.76 and a fifty-two week high of $66.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.90 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.69.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.13. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.97% and a net margin of 19.28%. The company had revenue of $424.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $290.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.16 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.82 EPS for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Ameris Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 14.60%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameris Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 75.0% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 416,557 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,153,000 after purchasing an additional 178,500 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Ameris Bancorp by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,560,371 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $365,771,000 after buying an additional 92,491 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Ameris Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,869,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 164.8% during the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 119,164 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,765,000 after acquiring an additional 74,165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,462,000. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.