Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB – Get Rating) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 22nd, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.15 per share by the bank on Friday, April 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 30th.
Ameris Bancorp has increased its dividend payment by 14.5% over the last three years. Ameris Bancorp has a payout ratio of 12.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Ameris Bancorp to earn $4.92 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 12.2%.
Shares of NASDAQ ABCB traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $46.60. 624,619 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 463,126. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.57. The company has a market capitalization of $3.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.76 and a beta of 1.22. Ameris Bancorp has a 12 month low of $43.92 and a 12 month high of $59.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.01.
Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 27th. The bank reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $248.61 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $241.59 million. Ameris Bancorp had a net margin of 35.27% and a return on equity of 12.87%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.47 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Ameris Bancorp will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,251,564 shares of the bank’s stock worth $509,297,000 after purchasing an additional 173,855 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 931,694 shares of the bank’s stock worth $46,286,000 after buying an additional 11,941 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 79.0% during the 2nd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 327,629 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,588,000 after buying an additional 144,589 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 284,607 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,140,000 after buying an additional 2,033 shares during the period. Finally, Parametric Portfolio Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ameris Bancorp by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Parametric Portfolio Associates LLC now owns 219,100 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,885,000 after buying an additional 2,594 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.47% of the company’s stock.
Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 30th. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Ameris Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 6th.
Ameris Bancorp Company Profile (Get Rating)
Ameris Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Ameris Bank that provides range of banking services to retail and commercial customers primarily in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The company operates through five segments: Banking Division, Retail Mortgage Division, Warehouse Lending Division, SBA Division, and Premium Finance Division.
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