Everence Capital Management Inc. Sells 1,410 Shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Everence Capital Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 19.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,014 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,410 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ameris Bancorp were worth $376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,332 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 2.1% during the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,503 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $780,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 1.8% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 18,359 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $924,000 after buying an additional 331 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 249.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 713 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 14.2% in the third quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 4,236 shares of the bank’s stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 526 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.91, for a total value of $559,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 27,444 shares in the company, valued at $1,918,610.04. The trade was a 22.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ABCB. Stephens increased their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.17.

Ameris Bancorp Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ ABCB opened at $62.35 on Tuesday. Ameris Bancorp has a 1 year low of $44.00 and a 1 year high of $74.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $66.60 and a 200 day moving average of $61.47. The stock has a market cap of $4.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.99 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $424.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $290.60 million. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.18% and a net margin of 20.08%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.16 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This is a positive change from Ameris Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.67%.

Ameris Bancorp Company Profile

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.