Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Sells 128,156 Shares of Ameris Bancorp $ABCB

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP trimmed its position in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 3.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,896,626 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 128,156 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 5.71% of Ameris Bancorp worth $303,893,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 6,308 shares of the bank’s stock worth $468,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 9,365 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $696,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 9,054 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 6,456 shares of the bank’s stock worth $476,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 14,639 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,087,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ABCB shares. Piper Sandler lowered Ameris Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $96.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Raymond James Financial lowered Ameris Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Truist Financial raised their price target on Ameris Bancorp from $89.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Stephens lifted their price target on Ameris Bancorp from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Ameris Bancorp to an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.67.

Ameris Bancorp Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of ABCB stock opened at $89.79 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $87.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $83.14. Ameris Bancorp has a 12-month low of $64.64 and a 12-month high of $93.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market cap of $6.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.23 and a beta of 0.91.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $314.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $309.58 million. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 21.46%.During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.28 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.58%.

Ameris Bancorp Company Profile

Ameris Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Through its principal subsidiary, Ameris Bank, the company offers a broad range of commercial and retail banking services to individuals, small businesses, middle market companies and agricultural customers. Its core business lines encompass deposit services, lending solutions, treasury management, mortgage origination and servicing, insurance products and wealth management.

Ameris Bancorp operates a network of branches and loan production offices across the southeastern United States, including Georgia, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.