7,876 Shares in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) Acquired by Systematic Financial Management LP

Systematic Financial Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 7,876 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $491,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Ameris Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 249.5% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 66.1% in the 2nd 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. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 33.5% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the bank's stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its position in Ameris Bancorp by 3,396.4% during the third 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ABCB. StockNews.com raised Ameris Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial lowered 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 report on Monday, October 28th. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Raymond James raised Ameris Bancorp from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $69.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ameris Bancorp news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 owns 27,444 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,918,610.04. This represents a 22.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 5.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ABCB traded up $0.52 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $69.39. The stock had a trading volume of 196,753 shares, compared to its average volume of 355,258. Ameris Bancorp has a twelve month low of $44.00 and a twelve month high of $74.56. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.46 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 posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $424.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $290.60 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.16 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Ameris Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.50%.

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.