Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP Buys 1,598 Shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP grew its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 22.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,587 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 1,598 shares during the quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP’s holdings in Ameris Bancorp were worth $535,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 1.0% during the second 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 last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 2,533,580 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $127,566,000 after acquiring an additional 19,287 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 4.6% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Ameris Bancorp by 9.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 907,140 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,596,000 after purchasing an additional 79,060 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 1.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 863,294 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $53,861,000 after purchasing an additional 12,054 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ameris Bancorp Trading Down 1.4 %

ABCB stock opened at $71.37 on Wednesday. Ameris Bancorp has a 12 month low of $41.00 and a 12 month high of $74.56. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $64.59 and its 200 day moving average is $57.77. The company has a market capitalization of $4.93 billion, a PE ratio of 14.87 and a beta of 1.01. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.13. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 20.08% and a return on equity of 9.18%. The business had revenue of $424.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $290.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.16 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 EPS for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 27,444 shares in the company, 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 is available at the SEC website. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on ABCB. StockNews.com raised shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. 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. Stephens raised their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Raymond James raised Ameris Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.67.

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.