Jennison Associates LLC Cuts Stock Position in Ameris Bancorp $ABCB

Key Points

• Jennison Associates LLC reduced its Ameris Bancorp stake by 20.2% in the first quarter, selling 351,202 shares and leaving it with 1.39 million shares worth about $108.4 million.
• Analyst sentiment on ABCB is mixed, with recent rating changes including cuts from Piper Sandler and Raymond James, while Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock; the consensus remains Hold with an average price target of $92.67.
• Ameris Bancorp reported solid quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, and it also paid a $0.20 quarterly dividend, equal to a 0.9% annualized yield.

Jennison Associates LLC lessened its holdings in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Free Report) by 20.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,390,012 shares of the bank's stock after selling 351,202 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 2.04% of Ameris Bancorp worth $108,407,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ABCB. Artemis Investment Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth about $1,667,000. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH grew its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 454,169 shares of the bank's stock valued at $33,731,000 after buying an additional 59,606 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 996,786 shares of the bank's stock valued at $74,031,000 after buying an additional 27,106 shares during the period. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 271,568 shares of the bank's stock valued at $20,169,000 after buying an additional 26,320 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp acquired a new position in Ameris Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,262,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABCB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler cut Ameris Bancorp from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $96.00 price target for the company. in a report on Sunday, July 12th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Ameris Bancorp from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $89.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $92.67.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Performance

Ameris Bancorp stock opened at $92.17 on Monday. Ameris Bancorp has a 52 week low of $64.64 and a 52 week high of $93.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market cap of $6.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.69 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $87.18 and a 200-day moving average of $82.81.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $314.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $309.58 million. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 21.46% and a return on equity of 9.57%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.28 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 6th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Ameris Bancorp's payout ratio is presently 12.58%.

About Ameris Bancorp

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.

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