Brokerages Set Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) Price Target at $67.00

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $67.00.

Several analysts recently commented on ABCB shares. DA Davidson raised their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $52.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameris Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,560,371 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $365,771,000 after purchasing an additional 92,491 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,374,719 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $220,263,000 after purchasing an additional 45,240 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 0.8% in the second quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 2,533,580 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $127,566,000 after purchasing an additional 19,287 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 3.0% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,254,903 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $60,712,000 after purchasing an additional 36,873 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.6% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 851,240 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $42,860,000 after purchasing an additional 13,418 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Performance

ABCB stock opened at $64.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market cap of $4.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.76 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.15. Ameris Bancorp has a 52 week low of $34.26 and a 52 week high of $66.51.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $436.03 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $273.67 million. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 19.28% and a return on equity of 8.97%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 14.60%.

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.