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

Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,587 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring 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 quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ABCB. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,503 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $780,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 38.0% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,130 shares of the bank’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 33.5% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 18,359 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $924,000 after buying an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 249.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 713 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James upgraded Ameris Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report 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 MarketBeat, Ameris Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.67.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ ABCB opened at $71.37 on Wednesday. Ameris Bancorp has a 52 week low of $41.00 and a 52 week high of $74.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market capitalization of $4.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.87 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $64.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.77.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last released 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. The company had revenue of $424.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $290.60 million. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 20.08% and a return on equity of 9.18%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.16 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of Ameris Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.91, for a total transaction of $559,280.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,918,610.04. This trade represents a 22.57 % decrease in their position. 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 insiders.

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.