Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Cuts Stock Holdings in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lessened its position in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Free Report) by 6.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 292,379 shares of the bank's stock after selling 18,562 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned 0.42% of Ameris Bancorp worth $18,242,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Ameris Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 66.1% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 819 shares of the bank's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Ameris Bancorp by 249.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 713 shares of the bank's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 33.5% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the bank's stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 3,396.4% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,923 shares of the bank's stock valued at $120,000 after buying an additional 1,868 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ameris Bancorp

In other news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of Ameris Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.91, for a total transaction of $559,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 5.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Ameris Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Raymond James raised shares of Ameris Bancorp from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock in a research 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $66.67.

Ameris Bancorp Trading Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ:ABCB opened at $71.37 on Wednesday. Ameris Bancorp has a 12 month low of $41.00 and a 12 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 stock has a market capitalization of $4.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.33 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.77.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 EPS 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 company had revenue of $424.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $290.60 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.16 EPS. Analysts expect that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. Ameris Bancorp's dividend 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.