Note 4 – AVAILABLE-FOR-SALE Securities

The amortized cost and appropriate fair values, together with gross unrealized gains and losses, of securities at March 31, 2025, and December 31, 2024, were as follows:

The amortized cost and fair value of securities available-for-sale at March 31, 2025, by contractual maturity, are shown below. Expected maturities will differ from contractual maturities because issuers may have the right to call or prepay obligations with or without call or prepayment penalties.

The fair value of securities pledged as collateral, to secure public deposits and for other purposes, was $134.1 million at March 31, 2025, and $115.5 million at December 31, 2024. The fair value of securities delivered for repurchase agreements was $13.7 million at March 31, 2025, and $17.3 million at December 31, 2024.

There were no realized gains or losses from sales of available-for-sale securities for the three months ended March 31, 2025, or March 31, 2024.

Certain investments in debt securities are reported in the consolidated financial statements at an amount less than their historical cost. Total fair value of these investments was $199.1 million at March 31, 2025, and $201.3 million at December 31, 2024, which consisted of 134 securities, or approximately 93 percent, and 138 securities, or approximately 99 percent, respectively, of the Company’s available-for-sale investment portfolio at such dates. Based on evaluation of available evidence, including recent changes in market interest rates, credit rating information and information obtained from regulatory filings, management believes the declines in fair value for these securities are temporary.

Securities with unrealized losses, aggregated by investment class and length of time that individual securities have been in a continuous unrealized loss position at March 31, 2025, and December 31, 2024, are as follows:

Based on evaluation of available evidence, including recent changes in market interest rates, credit rating information and information obtained from regulatory filings, management believes the declines in fair value for these securities are temporary. Management reviews these securities on a quarterly basis and evaluates if any security has a fair value less than its amortized cost. Once these securities are identified, management determines whether a decline in fair value resulted from a credit loss or other factors. In making the assessment, the Company may consider various factors including the extent to which fair value is less than amortized cost, performance on any underlying collateral, downgrades in the ratings of the security by a rating agency, the failure of the issuer to make scheduled interest or principal payments and adverse conditions specifically related to the security. If the assessment indicates that a credit loss exists, a provision is recorded to the allowance for credit losses (the “ACL”).

Changes in the ACL are recorded as provision for (or reversal of) credit losses. Available-for-sale securities are charged-off against the allowance or, in the absence of any allowance, written down through income when deemed uncollectible by management or when either of the aforementioned criteria regarding intent or requirement to sell is met. At March 31, 2025, and December 31, 2024, no ACL on available-for-sale securities was recorded.

Management has made the accounting policy election to exclude accrued interest receivable on available-for-sale securities from the estimate of credit losses. Accrued interest receivable on available-for-sale debt securities totaled $0.6 million at March 31, 2025 and $0.6 million at December 31, 2024. Should the decline in fair value be the result of credit losses or other factors, the security would be moved to nonaccrual status and all accrued interest reversed.