Bard Associates Inc. Purchases Shares of 8,709 Ameris Bancorp $ABCB

Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 8,709 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $788,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ABCB. Artemis Investment Management LLP purchased a new stake in Ameris Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth $1,667,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 31.3% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,741,214 shares of the bank’s stock worth $129,320,000 after purchasing an additional 414,920 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 271,568 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,169,000 after purchasing an additional 26,320 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth about $8,262,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 129.9% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 44,069 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,437,000 after purchasing an additional 24,900 shares in the last quarter. 91.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ameris Bancorp Trading Up 0.0%

Ameris Bancorp stock opened at $86.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Ameris Bancorp has a one year low of $68.80 and a one year high of $93.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.78 billion, a PE ratio of 16.53 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s fifty day moving average is $88.96 and its 200 day moving average is $84.45.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.66 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $317.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $323.78 million. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 21.46%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.59 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ABCB shares. Stephens set a $88.00 price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Raymond James Financial cut Ameris Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $96.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Ameris Bancorp to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ameris Bancorp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.67.

Ameris Bancorp 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.