Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Trims Stock Holdings in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky trimmed its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 4.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 72,402 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 3,283 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Ameris Bancorp were worth $3,502,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ameris Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,787,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 50.4% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 845,390 shares of the bank’s stock worth $44,848,000 after purchasing an additional 283,138 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 4,193.6% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 229,408 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,163,000 after purchasing an additional 224,065 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,193,610 shares of the bank’s stock worth $222,473,000 after buying an additional 205,750 shares during the period. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance grew its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 2,514,293 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $133,383,000 after purchasing an additional 201,644 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on ABCB. StockNews.com raised Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Ameris Bancorp from $54.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $61.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.20.

Ameris Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of ABCB traded down $2.09 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $56.32. The company had a trading volume of 561,115 shares, compared to its average volume of 453,996. The company has a market capitalization of $3.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.70 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.37. Ameris Bancorp has a 12-month low of $34.26 and a 12-month high of $64.88.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.03. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.97% and a net margin of 19.28%. The business had revenue of $436.03 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $273.67 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 30th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.07%. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.