Ameriprise Financial Inc. Purchases 65,855 Shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 10.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 680,198 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 65,855 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc.’s holdings in Ameris Bancorp were worth $42,563,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. North Reef Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 2,533,000 shares of the bank’s stock worth $158,490,000 after acquiring an additional 208,000 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 4.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,263,487 shares of the bank’s stock worth $78,829,000 after acquiring an additional 55,473 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 30.7% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 952,058 shares of the bank’s stock worth $59,570,000 after acquiring an additional 223,805 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 917,396 shares of the bank’s stock worth $57,401,000 after acquiring an additional 10,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 821,554 shares of the bank’s stock worth $51,405,000 after acquiring an additional 12,216 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Douglas D. Strange bought 1,000 shares of Ameris Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $56.95 per share, with a total value of $56,950.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 19,403 shares in the company, valued at $1,105,000.85. The trade was a 5.43% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ABCB shares. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $71.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a research note on Friday, April 4th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 price target on the stock. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies upped their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ameris Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.43.

Ameris Bancorp Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of ABCB opened at $60.43 on Monday. Ameris Bancorp has a twelve month low of $45.89 and a twelve month high of $74.56. The company has a market cap of $4.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.60 and a beta of 0.91. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.37.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The bank reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.16. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 21.46% and a return on equity of 9.57%. The business had revenue of $285.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $276.06 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.81%.

Ameris Bancorp Company Profile

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.