Foundry Partners LLC Grows Stock Position in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Foundry Partners LLC lifted its stake in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Free Report) by 53.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 110,911 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 38,650 shares during the quarter. Foundry Partners LLC owned 0.16% of Ameris Bancorp worth $6,385,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Ameris Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 84.1% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 731 shares of the bank's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 836.7% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,117 shares of the bank's stock valued at $132,000 after purchasing an additional 1,891 shares during the last quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at about $128,000. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,251 shares of the bank's stock valued at $187,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ABCB shares. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on Ameris Bancorp from $71.00 to $65.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Piper Sandler Companies boosted their price objective on Ameris Bancorp to $74.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Piper Sandler started coverage on Ameris Bancorp in a research note on Friday, April 4th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $74.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stephens reiterated an "equal weight" rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $71.43.

Ameris Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of ABCB traded up $0.33 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $67.01. 385,996 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 397,224. The company has a market cap of $4.62 billion, a PE ratio of 12.86 and a beta of 0.93. Ameris Bancorp has a 52-week low of $48.27 and a 52-week high of $74.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $63.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.02.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The bank reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $285.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $276.06 million. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 21.46%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.10 EPS. 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Ameris Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.81%.

Ameris Bancorp Profile

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.