Stephens Reaffirms "Equal Weight" Rating for Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "equal weight" rating reissued by equities researchers at Stephens in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $53.00 price objective on the bank's stock. Stephens' target price would indicate a potential upside of 10.69% from the company's previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on ABCB. DA Davidson reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a report on Monday, January 15th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ameris Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $50.25.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ ABCB traded up $0.37 during trading on Friday, reaching $47.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 474,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 380,864. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.32 and a beta of 1.05. Ameris Bancorp has a 12 month low of $28.33 and a 12 month high of $53.99. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $46.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.10.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The bank reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $267.27 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $258.05 million. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 8.30%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.86 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Ameris Bancorp news, insider Jon S. Edwards sold 7,500 shares of Ameris Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.35, for a total transaction of $355,125.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 59,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,826,368.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ameris Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABCB. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Ameris Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 11.1% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 4,565 shares of the bank's stock worth $175,000 after buying an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $203,000. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $205,000. Finally, KLR Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $209,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company's stock.

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.