William Blair Investment Management LLC Makes New Investment in Ameris Bancorp $ABCB

William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 253,806 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $22,909,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp during the second quarter valued at about $550,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Ameris Bancorp in the second quarter worth about $788,000. Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in Ameris Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $641,000. Callan Family Office LLC bought a new position in Ameris Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $482,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP acquired a new position in Ameris Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at about $67,000. Institutional investors own 91.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on ABCB shares. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Ameris Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Stephens set a $88.00 price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a report on Monday, July 27th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Morgan Stanley raised Ameris Bancorp to an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $96.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.67.

Ameris Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ:ABCB opened at $86.14 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $88.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.45. Ameris Bancorp has a 52-week low of $68.80 and a 52-week high of $93.22. The firm has a market cap of $5.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.53 and a beta of 0.92.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by ($0.06). Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 21.46% and a return on equity of 9.57%. The business had revenue of $317.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $323.78 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.59 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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

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.