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

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "equal weight" rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Stephens in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $63.00 target price on the bank's stock. Stephens' target price would indicate a potential upside of 9.61% from the stock's previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on ABCB. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Ameris Bancorp in a research report on Friday, April 4th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $74.00 price target for the company. Raymond James restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $71.00 price objective (up from $67.00) on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies increased their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp to $74.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameris Bancorp has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $72.29.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ABCB traded up $0.52 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $57.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 234,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 389,643. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $56.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Ameris Bancorp has a 12-month low of $45.89 and a 12-month high of $74.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.03 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Insider Activity

In other Ameris Bancorp news, insider Douglas D. Strange purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $56.95 per share, with a total value of $56,950.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 19,403 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,105,000.85. This trade represents a 5.43 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 5.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ameris Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ABCB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 30.7% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 952,058 shares of the bank's stock worth $59,570,000 after purchasing an additional 223,805 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 4.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,263,487 shares of the bank's stock worth $78,829,000 after buying an additional 55,473 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 789,271 shares of the bank's stock worth $49,385,000 after buying an additional 19,150 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 158.2% in the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 40,279 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,520,000 after acquiring an additional 24,680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $385,000. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Ameris Bancorp Company 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.

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