Peregrine Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Peregrine Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 160,618 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 558 shares during the period. Peregrine Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.23% of Ameris Bancorp worth $8,087,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABCB. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 66.1% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 819 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 33.5% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.0% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 56,626 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,740,000 after buying an additional 554 shares during the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 35,931 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,809,000 after purchasing an additional 593 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 1.9% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 32,600 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,641,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Ameris Bancorp Price Performance

ABCB stock traded up $0.87 on Friday, reaching $61.50. The company had a trading volume of 343,955 shares, compared to its average volume of 356,409. The company’s fifty day moving average is $56.21 and its 200 day moving average is $50.48. The company has a market cap of $4.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.96 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.05. Ameris Bancorp has a 1 year low of $34.26 and a 1 year high of $64.88.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.03. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.97% and a net margin of 19.28%. The business had revenue of $436.03 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $273.67 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 30th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. DA Davidson increased their price target on Ameris Bancorp from $61.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $52.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $54.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ameris Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.20.

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.