Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) Receives “Equal Weight” Rating from Stephens

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Stephens in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $53.00 target price on the bank’s stock. Stephens’ target price suggests a potential upside of 9.39% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on ABCB. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a research report on Monday, January 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.25.

Ameris Bancorp Price Performance

ABCB traded up $0.94 during trading on Friday, reaching $48.45. The stock had a trading volume of 94,704 shares, compared to its average volume of 376,085. Ameris Bancorp has a 1-year low of $28.33 and a 1-year high of $53.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.32 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $46.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The bank reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $267.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.05 million. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.30% and a net margin of 17.67%. The company’s revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.86 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameris Bancorp

In other news, insider Jon S. Edwards sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.35, for a total value of $355,125.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 59,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,826,368.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ameris Bancorp

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wesbanco Bank Inc. acquired a new position in Ameris Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,346,000. Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp in the first quarter worth $278,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 75.0% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE boosted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 19.5% during the first quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 109,772 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,311,000 after purchasing an additional 17,916 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 6,895 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.