Ameris Bancorp announced that its board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, reflecting an increase of 5 cents, or 50%, over the previous quarter's dividend. The dividend is payable on October 10, 2019 to shareholders of record on September 30, 2019.

The board of directors also approved a new share repurchase program authorizing the Company to repurchase up to $100 million of its outstanding common stock. Repurchases of shares, which are authorized to occur through October 31, 2020, will be made in accordance with applicable securities laws and may be made from time to time in the open market or by negotiated transactions. The amount and timing of repurchases will be based on a variety of factors, including share acquisition price, regulatory limitations and other market and economic factors. The program does not require the repurchase of any specific number of shares. It replaces the Company's prior share repurchase program which was set to expire in October 2019 and under which the Company repurchased $10.6 million of its outstanding common stock in the past year.

H. Palmer Proctor, Jr., the Company's Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We are proud of our ability to grow cash returns for our shareholders with this dividend increase. In addition, the stock repurchase plan provides us another tool to manage our capital and enhance long-term shareholder value and reflects our confidence in the continued strength of the Company's performance and balance sheet."