Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Acquires 4,875 Shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its holdings in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 77,277 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,875 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky owned 0.11% of Ameris Bancorp worth $4,821,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Ameris Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 249.5% during the third 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 last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 33.5% during the second 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. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 38.0% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,130 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its position in Ameris Bancorp by 3,396.4% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,923 shares of the bank’s stock worth $120,000 after buying an additional 1,868 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ameris Bancorp

In related news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of Ameris Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.91, for a total value of $559,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,918,610.04. The trade was a 22.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 5.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Ameris Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ABCB opened at $67.41 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.04 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $66.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.44. Ameris Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $44.00 and a fifty-two week high of $74.56. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.13. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 20.08% and a return on equity of 9.18%. The business had revenue of $424.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $290.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.16 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.50%.

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.