First Eagle Investment Management LLC Purchases 15,006 Shares of Ameris Bancorp $ABCB

First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 8.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 196,564 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,006 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ameris Bancorp were worth $14,410,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 29.5% in the 3rd quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 4,753 shares of the bank’s stock worth $350,000 after buying an additional 1,082 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 757,748 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $55,551,000 after acquiring an additional 47,634 shares during the last quarter. EJF Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. EJF Capital LLC now owns 5,754 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $422,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its position in Ameris Bancorp by 2.7% in the third quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 69,709 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,110,000 after acquiring an additional 1,824 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd increased its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 395.4% during the third quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 748 shares of the bank’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 597 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson set a $94.00 price objective on Ameris Bancorp in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Stephens increased their target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameris Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.50.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of ABCB opened at $79.39 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $80.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.14. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $5.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.24 and a beta of 0.99. Ameris Bancorp has a 12-month low of $48.27 and a 12-month high of $87.98.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The bank reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.03. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 21.46% and a return on equity of 9.57%. The company had revenue of $309.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $310.48 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 31st. Ameris Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 13.33%.

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.