Public Sector Pension Investment Board Sells 5,200 Shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lowered its position in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 137,188 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 5,200 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned approximately 0.20% of Ameris Bancorp worth $8,559,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ABCB. De Lisle Partners LLP grew its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 46.3% during the third quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP now owns 18,968 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,184,000 after buying an additional 6,000 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 38,792 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,420,000 after acquiring an additional 5,616 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in Ameris Bancorp by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 22,781 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,421,000 after acquiring an additional 5,225 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 24.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 94,887 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,920,000 after purchasing an additional 18,822 shares during the period. Finally, Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP lifted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 22.9% in the third quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP now owns 8,587 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $535,000 after purchasing an additional 1,598 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameris Bancorp

In related 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 value of $559,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,444 shares in the company, valued at $1,918,610.04. This trade represents a 22.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on ABCB shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James upgraded shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective 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. Finally, Stephens raised their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Two 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.67.

Ameris Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ABCB opened at $70.28 on Friday. Ameris Bancorp has a 1 year low of $42.25 and a 1 year high of $74.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.64 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50-day moving average is $65.06 and its 200 day moving average is $58.10. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $290.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.16 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.50%.

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.