Summit Creek Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Ameris Bancorp $ABCB

Summit Creek Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 206,888 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 6,838 shares during the quarter. Ameris Bancorp makes up 2.4% of Summit Creek Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Summit Creek Advisors LLC owned 0.30% of Ameris Bancorp worth $15,366,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Ameris Bancorp by 3.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,258,436 shares of the bank’s stock worth $92,256,000 after buying an additional 39,478 shares in the last quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP increased its position in Ameris Bancorp by 4.8% in the third quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 1,981,061 shares of the bank’s stock worth $145,232,000 after buying an additional 91,043 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in Ameris Bancorp by 8.3% in the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 196,564 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,410,000 after buying an additional 15,006 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. increased its position in Ameris Bancorp by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 996,786 shares of the bank’s stock worth $74,031,000 after buying an additional 27,106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH increased its position in Ameris Bancorp by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 454,169 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,731,000 after buying an additional 59,606 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Truist Financial upped their price target on Ameris Bancorp from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Ameris Bancorp from $82.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 target price on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Stephens increased their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ameris Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.17.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ABCB opened at $84.68 on Thursday. 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 has a 12-month low of $59.54 and a 12-month high of $87.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $81.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.25 and a beta of 0.93.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.09. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 21.46%.The firm had revenue of $314.36 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $309.58 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.58%.

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.