The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Takes $34.42 Million Position in Ameris Bancorp $ABCB

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 381,328 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $34,419,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Ameris Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new stake in Ameris Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in Ameris Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $67,000. Finally, Torren Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $76,000. 91.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ABCB shares. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Raymond James Financial cut shares of Ameris Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $96.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Stephens set a $88.00 price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.67.

Ameris Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of ABCB opened at $86.04 on Thursday. Ameris Bancorp has a 1-year low of $68.80 and a 1-year high of $93.22. The stock has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a PE 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. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $88.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.52.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $323.78 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.59 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given 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 dividend yield of 0.9%. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 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.