Ameris Bancorp $ABCB Shares Sold by William Blair Investment Management LLC

William Blair Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 5.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 657,531 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 39,830 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ameris Bancorp were worth $48,204,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 2,311.8% in the 2nd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 410 shares of the bank’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1,567.6% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 567 shares of the bank’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 533 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 51.5% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 547 shares of the bank’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd lifted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 395.4% during the third quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 748 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 597 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABCB has been the topic of several analyst reports. DA Davidson set a $94.00 price target on Ameris Bancorp in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Stephens raised their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Ameris Bancorp from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.50.

Ameris Bancorp Trading Down 6.1%

ABCB stock opened at $77.55 on Monday. Ameris Bancorp has a 12-month low of $48.27 and a 12-month high of $87.98. The business’s 50-day moving average is $80.11 and its 200 day moving average is $76.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market cap of $5.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.89 and a beta of 0.99.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The bank reported $1.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.03. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 21.46%.The business had revenue of $309.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $310.48 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.38 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 31st. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.33%.

About Ameris Bancorp

Ameris Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Through its principal subsidiary, Ameris Bank, the company offers a broad range of commercial and retail banking services to individuals, small businesses, middle market companies and agricultural customers. Its core business lines encompass deposit services, lending solutions, treasury management, mortgage origination and servicing, insurance products and wealth management.

Ameris Bancorp operates a network of branches and loan production offices across the southeastern United States, including Georgia, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.