Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases Shares of 32,500 Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 32,500 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,724,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ABCB. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth $235,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth $219,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 30,112 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,597,000 after buying an additional 619 shares during the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth $246,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 80.6% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 15,720 shares of the bank’s stock worth $834,000 after buying an additional 7,017 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ABCB. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $53.00 price target on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Ameris Bancorp from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 1st. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a report on Monday, January 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Ameris Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ameris Bancorp

In other Ameris Bancorp news, insider Jon S. Edwards sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.35, for a total value of $355,125.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,826,368.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ABCB opened at $46.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $46.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.83. The stock has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.87 and a beta of 1.05. Ameris Bancorp has a 1-year low of $28.33 and a 1-year high of $53.99.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $262.35 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $267.23 million. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 8.30%. On average, research analysts expect that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, March 31st were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. Ameris Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 15.38%.

About Ameris Bancorp

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.