The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Takes Position in Ameris Bancorp $ABCB

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 381,328 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $34,419,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.57% of Ameris Bancorp at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Ameris Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $881,798,000. North Reef Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 25.1% in the first quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 3,423,243 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $266,979,000 after purchasing an additional 686,215 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,199,365 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $238,250,000 after purchasing an additional 12,475 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 31.3% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,741,214 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $129,320,000 after purchasing an additional 414,920 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC lifted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 1,083,272 shares of the bank’s stock worth $80,455,000 after buying an additional 14,735 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on ABCB. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Ameris Bancorp from $96.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 27th. Stephens set a $88.00 price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Raymond James Financial cut shares of Ameris Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameris Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.67.

Ameris Bancorp Price Performance

ABCB opened at $86.04 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $88.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.52. Ameris Bancorp has a 12-month low of $68.80 and a 12-month high of $93.22. 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 cap of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.51 and a beta of 0.92.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.66 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $317.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $323.78 million. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 21.46% and a return on equity of 9.57%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.59 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.47%.

Ameris Bancorp Company Profile

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.