Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Reduces Holdings in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund decreased its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 35,348 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 2,850 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Ameris Bancorp were worth $1,875,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Xponance Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $211,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $218,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $219,000. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $235,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 11.1% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 4,565 shares of the bank’s stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameris Bancorp

In other news, insider Jon S. Edwards sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.35, for a total transaction of $355,125.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 59,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,826,368.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABCB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $53.00 target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a report on Monday, January 15th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Ameris Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ameris Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.25.

Ameris Bancorp Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ABCB opened at $47.51 on Friday. Ameris Bancorp has a 12-month low of $28.33 and a 12-month high of $53.99. The company has a market capitalization of $3.28 billion, a PE ratio of 12.18 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50 day moving average of $46.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by ($0.05). Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 8.30%. The company had revenue of $262.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $267.23 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, March 31st were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Ameris Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 15.38%.

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.