USA Financial Formulas Makes New Investment in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 1,568 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $98,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,374,719 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $220,263,000 after buying an additional 45,240 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 2,533,580 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $127,566,000 after purchasing an additional 19,287 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,263,487 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $78,829,000 after purchasing an additional 55,473 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 907,140 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,596,000 after buying an additional 79,060 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 863,294 shares of the bank’s stock worth $53,861,000 after buying an additional 12,054 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Ameris Bancorp

In other Ameris Bancorp news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.91, for a total transaction of $559,280.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,918,610.04. This represents a 22.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ABCB shares. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on 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. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price 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. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ameris Bancorp has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.17.

Ameris Bancorp Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ ABCB opened at $63.80 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $66.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.03. Ameris Bancorp has a twelve month low of $44.00 and a twelve month high of $74.56. The stock has a market cap of $4.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.29 and a beta of 1.06.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.13. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.18% and a net margin of 20.08%. The business had revenue of $424.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $290.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.16 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.84 EPS for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.20 dividend. This is a boost from Ameris Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.67%.

Ameris Bancorp 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.