Equities Analysts Issue Forecasts for Ameris Bancorp’s FY2018 Earnings (ABCB)

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) – FIG Partners reduced their FY2018 earnings estimates for shares of Ameris Bancorp in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, October 23rd. FIG Partners analyst C. Marinac now forecasts that the bank will earn $3.30 per share for the year, down from their prior forecast of $3.32. FIG Partners also issued estimates for Ameris Bancorp’s Q4 2018 earnings at $0.93 EPS, Q1 2019 earnings at $0.94 EPS, Q1 2020 earnings at $1.12 EPS, Q2 2020 earnings at $1.16 EPS, Q3 2020 earnings at $1.20 EPS and FY2020 earnings at $4.70 EPS.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 19th. The bank reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $129.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $135.44 million. Ameris Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.14% and a net margin of 17.99%.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on ABCB. BidaskClub downgraded Ameris Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 4th. Stephens restated a “buy” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a report on Friday, July 13th. TheStreet downgraded Ameris Bancorp from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Friday, August 17th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded Ameris Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, September 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “buy” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective on shares of Ameris Bancorp in a report on Friday, July 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. The company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $57.67.

NASDAQ ABCB opened at $41.71 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.82 and a beta of 1.13. Ameris Bancorp has a twelve month low of $39.34 and a twelve month high of $59.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. MetLife Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 8.8% during the second quarter. MetLife Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,334 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $978,000 after acquiring an additional 1,479 shares during the last quarter. Xact Kapitalforvaltning AB boosted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 39.2% during the second quarter. Xact Kapitalforvaltning AB now owns 8,530 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $455,000 after acquiring an additional 2,400 shares during the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can boosted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 4.0% during the second quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 51,479 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,746,000 after acquiring an additional 1,963 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 1.9% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 804,157 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $42,901,000 after acquiring an additional 15,052 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its position in Ameris Bancorp by 9.7% during the second quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 71,064 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,791,000 after acquiring an additional 6,300 shares during the last quarter. 78.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

In other news, Director Elizabeth A. Mccague purchased 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $50.05 per share, with a total value of $50,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $261,561.30. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Leo J. Hill purchased 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $48.38 per share, for a total transaction of $96,760.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $918,445.92. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 28th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 27th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.13%.