Tudor Investment Corp ET AL Acquires New Position in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new stake in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 28,155 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $1,762,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 2,436.8% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 482 shares of the bank's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Ameris Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 56.1% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,113 shares of the bank's stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,332 shares of the bank's stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 167.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,431 shares of the bank's stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 896 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Ameris Bancorp Stock Performance

ABCB stock traded down $0.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $60.43. 185,185 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 398,651. Ameris Bancorp has a 1-year low of $45.89 and a 1-year high of $74.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.16 billion, a PE ratio of 11.60 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $285.86 million during 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Ameris Bancorp's payout ratio is presently 14.81%.

Insider Activity

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

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.