State Street Corp Reduces Stock Holdings in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

State Street Corp lowered its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Free Report) by 0.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,247,709 shares of the bank's stock after selling 10,537 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned approximately 4.70% of Ameris Bancorp worth $203,109,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Ameris Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 249.5% during 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. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 33.5% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the bank's stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Ameris Bancorp by 38.0% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,130 shares of the bank's stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 3,396.4% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,923 shares of the bank's stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 1,868 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Ameris Bancorp

In related news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.91, for a total value of $559,280.00. Following the sale, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 5.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABCB has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ameris Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th. Stephens lifted their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Ameris Bancorp from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ameris Bancorp has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $69.17.

Ameris Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ ABCB traded down $0.77 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $66.64. The company had a trading volume of 454,824 shares, compared to its average volume of 361,802. The company has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a PE ratio of 13.88 and a beta of 1.03. Ameris Bancorp has a twelve month low of $44.00 and a twelve month high of $74.56. 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 has a 50-day moving average price of $66.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.57.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $424.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $290.60 million. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 20.08% and a return on equity of 9.18%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.16 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Ameris Bancorp's 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.