Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) shares reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $74.37 and last traded at $73.87, with a volume of 25960 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.79.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABCB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report 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 objective for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $61.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.67.

Ameris Bancorp Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $64.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market cap of $5.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.21 and a beta of 1.01.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 earnings per share (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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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 paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.50%.

Insider Activity

In other Ameris Bancorp news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of the 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 completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ameris Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABCB. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,560,371 shares of the bank’s stock worth $365,771,000 after buying an additional 92,491 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 907,140 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,596,000 after buying an additional 79,060 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 107.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 140,001 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,735,000 after buying an additional 72,599 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 135.5% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 115,194 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,187,000 after buying an additional 66,287 shares during the period. Finally, Algert Global LLC grew its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 208.0% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 83,393 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,203,000 after buying an additional 56,320 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

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.