GAMMA Investing LLC Buys 311 Shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 38.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,130 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 311 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Ameris Bancorp were worth $71,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 75.0% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 416,557 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,153,000 after buying an additional 178,500 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 92,491 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Ameris Bancorp in the first quarter valued at about $3,869,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 164.8% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 119,164 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,765,000 after acquiring an additional 74,165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $2,462,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ABCB. Stephens boosted their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $52.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Truist Financial boosted 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, DA Davidson boosted their price target on Ameris Bancorp from $61.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.00.

Ameris Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ:ABCB opened at $64.59 on Wednesday. Ameris Bancorp has a 52-week low of $34.26 and a 52-week high of $66.22. The company has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.72 and a beta of 1.01. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.86.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $436.03 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $273.67 million. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.97% and a net margin of 19.28%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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