ATLANTA (AP) _ Ameris Bancorp (ABCB) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter earnings of $94.3 million.

The Atlanta-based bank said it had earnings of $1.36 per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were $1.47 per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.17 per share.

The bank posted revenue of $290.9 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $275.6 million, also exceeding Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $274.5 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $262 million, or $3.77 per share. Revenue was reported as $1.08 billion.

Ameris Bancorp shares have climbed 8.5% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $41.29, rising slightly in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on ABCB at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ABCB

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