Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Truist Financial raised their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $52.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $61.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.00.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of ABCB opened at $61.25 on Wednesday. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.69. Ameris Bancorp has a 52 week low of $34.76 and a 52 week high of $66.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.90 and a beta of 1.01.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.13. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.97% and a net margin of 19.28%. The firm had revenue of $424.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $290.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.16 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Ameris Bancorp’s payout ratio is 14.60%.

Institutional Trading of Ameris Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ABCB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,467,880 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $396,171,000 after purchasing an additional 33,386 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 130.7% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,169 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $589,000 after buying an additional 6,895 shares during the last quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE lifted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 19.5% during the 1st quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 109,772 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,311,000 after buying an additional 17,916 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 75.0% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 416,557 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,153,000 after acquiring an additional 178,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC acquired a new stake in Ameris Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at about $278,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

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.