Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.20 Per Share

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 18th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share by the bank on Monday, January 6th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Ameris Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15.

Ameris Bancorp has a payout ratio of 11.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Ameris Bancorp to earn $4.98 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 12.0%.

Ameris Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ ABCB opened at $61.95 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.01. Ameris Bancorp has a 52-week low of $44.00 and a 52-week high of $74.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.91 and a beta of 1.03. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $424.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $290.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.16 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ameris Bancorp

In other Ameris Bancorp news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.91, for a total value of $559,280.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,918,610.04. This trade represents a 22.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 5.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ABCB has been the topic of several research reports. 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. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Stephens raised their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.17.

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.