Magnetar Financial LLC Purchases New Holdings in Ameris Bancorp $ABCB

Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 11,029 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $635,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABCB. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Ameris Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $56,202,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Ameris Bancorp by 36.2% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,875,194 shares of the bank’s stock worth $107,955,000 after purchasing an additional 498,604 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Ameris Bancorp by 189.7% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 502,690 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,940,000 after purchasing an additional 329,196 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new position in Ameris Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $10,528,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Ameris Bancorp by 150.3% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 288,300 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,039,000 after purchasing an additional 173,106 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, DA Davidson set a $81.00 target price on Ameris Bancorp and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ameris Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.14.

Ameris Bancorp Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of ABCB opened at $73.36 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.25. Ameris Bancorp has a 1-year low of $48.27 and a 1-year high of $74.56. The stock has a market cap of $5.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.08 and a beta of 0.96.

Ameris Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. Ameris Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.08%.

Ameris Bancorp Profile

Ameris Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Ameris Bank that provides range of banking services to retail and commercial customers. It operates through five segments: Banking Division, Retail Mortgage Division, Warehouse Lending Division, SBA Division, and Premium Finance Division. The company offers commercial and retail checking, regular interest-bearing savings, money market, individual retirement, and certificates of deposit accounts.