Strs Ohio Grows Stock Holdings in Ameris Bancorp $ABCB

Strs Ohio increased its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 631.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 100,200 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 86,500 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Ameris Bancorp were worth $7,442,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. North Reef Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 4.8% during the third quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 1,981,061 shares of the bank’s stock worth $145,232,000 after buying an additional 91,043 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 31.3% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,741,214 shares of the bank’s stock worth $129,320,000 after buying an additional 414,920 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 3.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,258,436 shares of the bank’s stock worth $92,256,000 after buying an additional 39,478 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 996,786 shares of the bank’s stock worth $74,031,000 after buying an additional 27,106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 134.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 931,911 shares of the bank’s stock worth $68,318,000 after buying an additional 534,830 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ABCB shares. DA Davidson raised their price target on Ameris Bancorp from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a report on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Stephens lifted their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.17.

Ameris Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of ABCB opened at $85.16 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $79.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.81 billion, a PE ratio of 16.35 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Ameris Bancorp has a twelve month low of $58.91 and a twelve month high of $87.98.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $314.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $309.58 million. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 21.46%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.28 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Ameris Bancorp’s payout ratio is 12.58%.

Ameris Bancorp Profile

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.