Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Stake in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,263,487 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 55,473 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 1.83% of Ameris Bancorp worth $78,829,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 509 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 38.0% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,130 shares of the bank's stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings 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. CWM LLC grew its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 105.8% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,696 shares of the bank's stock valued at $168,000 after acquiring an additional 1,386 shares during the period. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp during the second quarter valued at approximately $143,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.91, for a total value of $559,280.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,444 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,918,610.04. The trade was 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 the SEC website. Insiders own 5.50% of the company's stock.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ:ABCB traded up $0.86 on Friday, hitting $62.81. The stock had a trading volume of 1,579,315 shares, compared to its average volume of 371,025. Ameris Bancorp has a 1 year low of $44.00 and a 1 year high of $74.56. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $66.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.21. The stock has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.09 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Get Free Report) last released its 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 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 prior year, the firm earned $1.16 EPS. Analysts predict that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Ameris Bancorp's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Ameris Bancorp's payout ratio is presently 12.50%.

Ameris Bancorp Company 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.