Summit Creek Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Ameris Bancorp $ABCB

Summit Creek Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 70,720 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $6,383,000. Ameris Bancorp makes up about 2.2% of Summit Creek Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at $881,798,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Ameris Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $62,673,000. North Reef Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Ameris Bancorp by 38.2% in the fourth quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 2,737,028 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $203,279,000 after purchasing an additional 755,967 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Ameris Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth about $42,270,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 134.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 931,911 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $68,318,000 after buying an additional 534,830 shares during the last quarter. 91.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ameris Bancorp Trading Down 0.9%

ABCB stock opened at $88.22 on Wednesday. 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 $68.80 and a 12-month high of $93.22. The stock has a market cap of $5.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.93 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s 50-day moving average is $89.03 and its 200 day moving average is $84.36.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $317.78 million for 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 previous year, the company earned $1.59 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Ameris Bancorp 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.