HB Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Position in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

HB Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,622 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $352,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ABCB. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted 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 valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in Ameris Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth $98,000. US Bancorp DE raised its position in Ameris Bancorp by 3,396.4% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,923 shares of the bank's stock worth $120,000 after acquiring an additional 1,868 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,386 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Ameris Bancorp Trading Up 0.2 %

ABCB stock traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $64.35. The stock had a trading volume of 171,015 shares, compared to its average volume of 391,639. Ameris Bancorp has a 12-month low of $44.22 and a 12-month high of $74.56. The company's 50-day moving average price is $65.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a PE ratio of 13.41 and a beta of 1.06.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.13. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.18% and a net margin of 20.08%. The business had revenue of $424.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $290.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.16 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Ameris Bancorp's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Ameris Bancorp's payout ratio is currently 16.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of Ameris Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.91, for a total transaction of $559,280.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,444 shares in the company, 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 at this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.50% of the company's stock.

Ameris Bancorp 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.