Ameris Bancorp Insiders Seem to Be Betting on This Pending Acquisition

Ameris Bancorp insidersJ Leo Hill, Director of the Board at Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) acquired stock from the company on Wednesday and Thursday, after it publicly reported its third quarter results on October 21st.

Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)

Amongst the highlights are: net income available to common shareholders of $0.26 per diluted share, compared to $0.04 per diluted share, for the same quarter last year; return on average assets of 0.94% and return on average tangible equity of 10.75% (both very close to industry averages); and an annualized growth rate of 8.62%, year-over-year, for non-covered loans .

Although the stock was up on Monday and Tuesday, following the announcement of the results, it dropped on Wednesday. On that day, Hill bought 1,500 shares at $17.93 each. As the stock price continued to decline, Hill added, on Thursday, another 915 shares to his portfolio at a price of $17.85 each. Following the reported transactions, the insider directly owns 4,415 shares, valued at approximately $79,161 (as of the market close of Oct. 24th).

These are not Hill’s first purchases this year. He had already bought shares in three occasions during March and has already perceived an upside of more than 25%. Besides Hill, another insider, D Jimmy Veal -also a Director- has bet on the firm this year. However, his luck wasn’t the same as Hill’s: he bought 525 shares in July at a price of $18.54 each, and shares now trade at $17.93.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no position in any stocks mentioned

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