Ameris Bancorp $ABCB Stock Position Trimmed by GW&K Investment Management LLC

GW&K Investment Management LLC cut its position in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 15.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 559,412 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 103,918 shares during the quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ameris Bancorp were worth $41,548,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. North Reef Capital Management LP lifted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 1,981,061 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $145,232,000 after purchasing an additional 91,043 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 31.3% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,741,214 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $129,320,000 after purchasing an additional 414,920 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,258,436 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $92,256,000 after purchasing an additional 39,478 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 996,786 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $74,031,000 after purchasing an additional 27,106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 134.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 931,911 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $68,318,000 after purchasing an additional 534,830 shares during the last quarter. 91.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Up 0.5%

ABCB stock opened at $86.53 on Thursday. Ameris Bancorp has a 52 week low of $59.54 and a 52 week high of $87.99. The company has a market capitalization of $5.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.61 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $83.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $80.36. 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 (NASDAQ:ABCB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.09. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 21.46% and a return on equity of 9.57%. The business had revenue of $314.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $309.58 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.28 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 31st. Ameris Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 12.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ABCB. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.17.

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.