Phocas Financial Corp. Sells 11,293 Shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Phocas Financial Corp. reduced its stake in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) by 5.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 183,022 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 11,293 shares during the period. Phocas Financial Corp. owned 0.26% of Ameris Bancorp worth $11,419,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ABCB. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Ameris Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 249.5% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 713 shares of the bank’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Ameris Bancorp by 66.1% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 819 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 33.5% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the bank’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 3,396.4% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,923 shares of the bank’s stock worth $120,000 after acquiring an additional 1,868 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on ABCB shares. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $61.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th. Stephens increased their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com raised Ameris Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on Ameris Bancorp from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.67.

Ameris Bancorp Stock Down 1.2 %

ABCB stock opened at $68.78 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $63.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.06. The stock has a market cap of $4.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.75 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Ameris Bancorp has a twelve month low of $40.71 and a twelve month high of $72.68.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $424.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $290.60 million. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 20.08% and a return on equity of 9.18%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.16 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.83 EPS for the current year.

Ameris Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Robert Dale Ezzell sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.91, for a total transaction of $559,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 27,444 shares in the company, valued at $1,918,610.04. This trade represents a 22.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 5.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ameris Bancorp Profile

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.