Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Stake in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Free Report) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,177,755 shares of the bank's stock after selling 32,415 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 1.71% of Ameris Bancorp worth $67,803,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 8.8% in the first 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 period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.0% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 374,706 shares of the bank's stock valued at $21,358,000 after purchasing an additional 3,743 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 4.2% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 37,181 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,492 shares during the period. Nilsine Partners LLC raised its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 15.8% in the first quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 60,577 shares of the bank's stock worth $3,487,000 after buying an additional 8,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisor Resource Council bought a new position in Ameris Bancorp in the first quarter worth approximately $590,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Ameris Bancorp Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of ABCB stock traded up $0.68 during trading on Friday, hitting $67.74. 223,703 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 403,420. 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 market capitalization of $4.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.00 and a beta of 0.93. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $62.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.02. Ameris Bancorp has a 52-week low of $48.21 and a 52-week high of $74.56.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The bank reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.16. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 21.46% and a return on equity of 9.57%. The firm had revenue of $285.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $276.06 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.10 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 7th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. Ameris Bancorp's payout ratio 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.