Barclays PLC Has $8.74 Million Stock Position in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 107.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 140,001 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 72,599 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Ameris Bancorp were worth $8,735,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ABCB. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Ameris Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Ameris Bancorp by 249.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 713 shares of the bank’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 38.0% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,130 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position 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. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 3,396.4% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,923 shares of the bank’s stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 1,868 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity

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

Ameris Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of ABCB stock opened at $65.34 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $66.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.98. 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 52-week low of $44.00 and a 52-week high of $74.56. The stock has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a PE ratio of 13.61 and a beta of 1.03.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $424.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $290.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.16 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 EPS for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Ameris Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 12.50%.

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.