Cullen Capital Management LLC Invests $825,000 in Ameris Bancorp $ABCB

Cullen Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 9,142 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $825,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Ameris Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $881,798,000. North Reef Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 25.1% during the 1st quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 3,423,243 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $266,979,000 after purchasing an additional 686,215 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,199,365 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $238,250,000 after purchasing an additional 12,475 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 31.3% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,741,214 shares of the bank’s stock worth $129,320,000 after purchasing an additional 414,920 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 1,083,272 shares of the bank’s stock worth $80,455,000 after purchasing an additional 14,735 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ABCB. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Ameris Bancorp from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Raymond James Financial cut Ameris Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $96.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ameris Bancorp to an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ameris Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.67.

Ameris Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ ABCB opened at $86.00 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $88.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.51 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Ameris Bancorp has a 1-year low of $68.80 and a 1-year high of $93.22.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by ($0.06). Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 21.46%.The firm had revenue of $317.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $323.78 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.59 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.47%.

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.