Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) Shares Bought by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Free Report) by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 728,253 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 60,448 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 1.05% of Ameris Bancorp worth $45,436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ABCB. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 249.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 713 shares of the bank's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 38.0% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,130 shares of the bank's stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its stake 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 buying an additional 1,868 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 105.8% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,696 shares of the bank's stock worth $168,000 after buying an additional 1,386 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new position in Ameris Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameris Bancorp

In other Ameris Bancorp news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.91, for a total value of $559,280.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,444 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,918,610.04. This trade represents a 22.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 5.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ABCB traded up $0.43 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $62.35. The stock had a trading volume of 580,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 403,032. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.03. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.36. Ameris Bancorp has a twelve month low of $44.00 and a twelve month high of $74.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.99 and a beta of 1.06.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Get Free Report) 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. The firm had revenue of $424.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $290.60 million. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.18% and a net margin of 20.08%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.16 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Ameris Bancorp's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Ameris Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.67%.

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.