Stephens analyst Tyler Stafford maintained a Buy rating on Ameris Bancorp (ABCB) today and set a price target of $50. The company’s shares closed on Friday at $39.76.
Stafford wrote:
“We maintain our Overweight rating on ABCB and continue to view the stock as our 2019 Best Idea following strong 2Q results that included robust loan growth, solid core deposit growth / overall funding improvements, better than expected core NIM trends, and stable asset quality all of which ultimately led to Op. EPS of $0.95 (ex. MSR FV adjustment) vs. us at $0.94 and Street at $0.96. With results, the Company provided more specifics about the combined ABCB / LION impacts in 3Q and ultimately blessed current consensus estimates of ~ $4.50 with rate cuts, while clearly drawing the line that future M&A was off the table for the next 4-6 quarters. We continue to view the 9x 2020 valuation as attractive considering the robust profitability profile (1.60% + ROA) and the growth tailwinds. KEY POINTS: EPS/Price Target Update.”
According to TipRanks.com, Stafford is a 4-star analyst with an average return of 5.5% and a 57.6% success rate. Stafford covers the Financial sector, focusing on stocks such as Capstar Financial Holdings Inc, Carolina Financial Corporation, and Amerant Bancorp Inc. Class A.
The word on The Street in general, suggests a Strong Buy analyst consensus rating for Ameris Bancorp with a $47 average price target.
See today’s analyst top recommended stocks >>
Ameris Bancorp’s market cap is currently $1.89B and has a P/E ratio of 13.90. The company has a Price to Book ratio of 1.27.
Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 33 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is positive on the stock. This means that over the past quarter there has been an increase of insiders buying their shares of ABCB in relation to earlier this year.
TipRanks has tracked 36,000 company insiders and found that a few of them are better than others when it comes to timing their transactions. See which 3 stocks are most likely to make moves following their insider activities.
Ameris Bancorp is a bank holding company, which through the subsidiary, Ameris Bank, engages in the provision of banking services to its retail and commercial customers. It operates through the following business segments: Banking, Retail Mortgage, Warehouse Lending, the SBA and Premium Finance.
