Fig Partners Initiates Coverage on Ameris Bancorp with Outperform Rating and $17.50 PT

In a report published by Fig Partners, analyst Christopher Marinac initiated coverage on Ameris Bancorp

with an Outperform rating and $17.50 price target. Fig partners reported that, “We feel that ABCB-Ameris Bancorp is on the cusp of superb expansion of tangible book value per share and accelerating EPS via recent efforts to reduce overhead coupled with lower credit costs and a final payoff of preferred capital (a.k.a., former TARP that was sold to secondary market investors—$28 Million out of the $52 Mil. original issue remains). During the economic and credit downturn from 2008 to 2011, ABCB repositioned itself with a series of small FDICassisted transactions that generated capital from bargain purchase gains under GAAP accounting which we redeployed into resolving problem credits. Now that the credit portfolio has seen a sharply reduced ratio of Classified Assets-to-Tier 1 Capital+Reserves, ABCB is poised for greater success from organic expansion, increased generation of excess tangible capital, and new opportunities for external mergers to build longer-term shareholder value.” Shares of Ameris Bancorp closed at $40.47 on Friday.