Citigroup Inc. Has $2.22 Million Stock Holdings in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB – Get Rating) by 40.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 47,146 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 13,481 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in Ameris Bancorp were worth $2,222,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Belpointe Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Ameris Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $41,000. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 41.9% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,269 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the period. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at about $72,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 202.5% during the 1st quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 2,211 shares of the bank’s stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 1,480 shares during the period. 86.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a report on Friday, March 3rd. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $43.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Monday, May 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp to $54.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 6th. Finally, Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a research report on Monday, April 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $41.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.40.

Insider Activity at Ameris Bancorp

In other Ameris Bancorp news, Director William Millard Choate bought 7,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $33.38 per share, for a total transaction of $250,016.20. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 7,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $250,016.20. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director William Millard Choate bought 7,490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $33.38 per share, for a total transaction of $250,016.20. Following the purchase, the director now owns 7,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $250,016.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO H Palmer Proctor, Jr. acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $29.25 per share, for a total transaction of $292,500.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 288,735 shares in the company, valued at $8,445,498.75. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 40,160 shares of company stock worth $1,256,130 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Ameris Bancorp Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of ABCB opened at $32.35 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.22. The company has a market capitalization of $2.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.90 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.09. Ameris Bancorp has a 1-year low of $28.33 and a 1-year high of $54.24.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 28th. The bank reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.34). Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.94% and a net margin of 25.82%. The business had revenue of $267.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $264.36 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 10th. Investors of record on Friday, March 31st were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 30th. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.79%.

About Ameris Bancorp

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Ameris Bancorp is a bank holding company, which through the subsidiary, Ameris Bank, engages in the provision of banking services to its retail and commercial customers. It operates through the following business segments: Banking, Retail Mortgage, Warehouse Lending, the SBA and Premium Finance. The Banking segment offers full service financial services to include commercial loans, consumer loans and deposit accounts.