Vermont Business Magazine NBT Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ: NBTB), with branches in northwestern Vermont, reported record net income and diluted earnings per share for both the three and six months ended June 30, 2018. Net income for the three months ended June 30, 2018 was $28.1 million, up from $26.0 million for the first quarter of 2018 and up from $21.4 million for the second quarter of 2017. Diluted earnings per share for the three months ended June 30, 2018 was $0.64, as compared with $0.59 for the prior quarter and $0.49 for the second quarter of 2017.
Net income for the six months ended June 30, 2018 was $54.1 million, up 29.9% from $41.6 million for the same period last year. Diluted earnings per share for the six months ended June 30, 2018 was $1.23, as compared with $0.95 for the same period in 2017, an increase of 29.5%.
Highlights:
- Quarter-to-date earnings per share up 8.5% from prior quarter and up 30.6% from prior year
- Quarter-to-date net income up 8.2% from prior quarter and up 31.7% from prior year
- Year-to-date loan growth of 8.4% (annualized)
- Average demand deposits for the six months ended June 30, 2018 up 4.9% from the same period in 2017
- Full cycle deposit beta of 3.4% through the quarter ending June 30, 20181
- FTE net interest margin of 3.57% for the six months ended June 30, 2018
- Nonperforming assets to total assets decreased 4 basis points from prior quarter to 0.32%
“Our focus on recruiting and developing the best team in community banking has propelled our ongoing success and our achievement of record net income and earnings per share for the second quarter and first half of 2018,” said NBT President and CEO John H. Watt, Jr. “Healthy organic growth in loans and demand deposits and the growth of our retirement plan services line of business are among the drivers through which we continue to build long-term value for our shareholders,” Watt added.
Net interest income was $75.7 million for the second quarter of 2018, up $2.3 million or 3.1%, from the previous quarter. Fully taxable equivalent (“FTE”) net interest margin was 3.57% for the three months ended June 30, 2018, comparable to the previous quarter. The yield on average earning assets increased 7 basis points (“bps”) from the prior quarter to 3.99%, primarily reflecting higher loan yields. The cost of interest bearing liabilities increased 10 bps to 0.61% for the quarter ended June 30, 2018, driven by increased short-term borrowings costs, with interest-bearing deposit costs increasing 8 bps. Average interest earning assets were up $174.2 million, or 2.1%, as compared to the prior quarter, primarily driven by a $158.3 million increase in loans.
Net interest income was $75.7 million for the second quarter of 2018, up $6.1 million, or 8.8%, from the second quarter of 2017. FTE net interest margin of 3.57% was up 13 bps from the second quarter of 2017 as the improvement in asset yields was partially offset by the increase in cost of interest bearing liabilities. Average interest earning assets were up $345.4 million, or 4.2%, from the same period in 2017, primarily driven by a $456.7 million increase in loans that was partially offset by a $107.4 million decrease in securities.
Net interest income for the first six months of 2018 was $149.2 million, up $11.1 million, or 8.0%, from the same period in 2017. FTE net interest margin of 3.57% for the six months ended June 30, 2018, was up from 3.45% for the same period in 2017 primarily due to increasing asset yields and the Company’s deposit costs remaining relatively stable. Average interest earning assets were up $300.0 million, or 3.7% for the six months ended June 30, 2018, as compared to the same period in 2017, which was driven by a $419.2 million increase in loans that was partially offset by a $111.9 million decrease in securities. Interest income increased $14.2 million, or 9.4% due to the increase in earning assets combined with a 20 bp improvement in loan yields. Interest expense was up $4.1 million, or 33.4%, for the six months ended June 30, 2018 as compared to the same period in 2017 and resulted primarily from a 13 bp increase in rates driven by higher borrowing costs and a modest 7 bp increase in the cost of deposits. The Federal Reserve began raising their target fed funds rate in December 2015 and has increased the target fed funds rate by a total of 1.75% through June 30, 2018. During this same cycle of increasing rates, the Company’s deposit rates have increased by 0.06%, resulting in a full cycle deposit beta of 3.4%. The favorable deposit beta was influenced by a favorable loan to deposit ratio and deposit mix.
Noninterest income for the three months ended June 30, 2018 was $34.2 million, up $2.9 million, or 9.2%, from the prior quarter and up $3.9 million, or 12.7%, from the second quarter of 2017. The increase from the prior quarter was driven by higher retirement plan administration fees, ATM and debit card fees and other noninterest income that were partially offset by lower insurance and other financial services revenue during the second quarter of 2018. Retirement plan administration fees increased in the second quarter of 2018 as compared to the first quarter of 2018 due to the acquisition of Retirement Plan Services, LLC (“RPS”) in the second quarter of 2018. ATM and debit card fees increased from prior quarter due to higher number of accounts and usage. Other noninterest income increased due to higher swap fee income. The increase from the second quarter of 2017 was driven by higher retirement plan administration fees resulting from the RPS acquisition and other noninterest income due primarily to higher swap fees.
Noninterest income for the six months ended June 30, 2018 was $65.4 million, up $6.4 million, or 10.8%, from the same period in 2017. The increase from the prior year was driven by higher retirement plan administration fees due to the acquisitions of RPS in the second quarter of 2018 and of Downeast Pension Services in the second quarter of 2017. Other noninterest income in the first half of 2018 increased compared to the same period of 2017 due primarily to higher swap fee income and non-recurring gains recognized in the first six months of 2018.
Noninterest expense for the three months ended June 30, 2018 was $64.9 million, up $0.6 million, or 1.0%, from the prior quarter and up $4.6 million, or 7.6%, from the second quarter of 2017. The increase from the prior quarter was driven by a $1.2 million increase in salaries and employee benefits primarily due to the acquisition of RPS that were partially offset by a decrease in seasonal occupancy expense. The increase from the second quarter of 2017 was driven by an increase in salaries and employee benefits expenses primarily due to the RPS acquisition, wage increases from tax reform initiatives and higher incentive compensation.
Noninterest expense for the six months ended June 30, 2018 was $129.2 million, up $7.6 million, or 6.2%, from the same period in 2017. The increase from the prior year was driven by higher salaries and employee benefits and equipment expense that were partially offset by lower other noninterest expenses in the first half of 2018 as compared to the same period of 2017 due primarily to lower retirement plan costs. The increase in salaries and employee benefits was primarily due to the RPS acquisition in second quarter of 2018, the acquisition of Downeast Pension Services in the second quarter of 2017, timing of incentive compensation and wage increases from tax reform initiatives.
Income tax expense for the three months ended June 30, 2018 was $8.1 million, up $1.1 million, or 15.7%, from the prior quarter and down $2.6 million, or 24.0%, from the second quarter of 2017. The effective tax rate of 22.4% for the second quarter of 2018 was up from 21.2% for the first quarter of 2018 and down from 33.3% for the second quarter of 2017. The increase in income tax expense from the prior quarter was due to a lower income tax benefit from equity-based transactions and higher level of taxable income. The decrease in income tax expense from the second quarter of 2017 was due to the lower effective tax rate from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act partially offset by a higher level of taxable income. Excluding the tax benefit from equity-based transactions, the effective tax rate was 22.5% for both the second quarter of 2018 and first quarter of 2018.
Income tax expense for the six months ended June 30, 2018 was $15.1 million, down $3.9 million, or 20.3% from the same period of 2017. The effective tax rate of 21.8% for the first six months of 2018 was down from 31.3% for the same period in the prior year. The decrease in income tax expense from the prior year was due to the lower effective tax rate from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act partially offset by a higher level of taxable income and lower tax benefit from equity-based transactions. Excluding the tax benefit from equity-based transactions, the effective tax rate was 22.5% and 33.9% for the six months ending June 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively.
Asset Quality
Net charge-offs of $6.5 million for the three months ended June 30, 2018 were down as compared to $6.8 million for the prior quarter and $6.7 million for the second quarter of 2017. Due primarily to loan growth, provision expense was higher at $8.8 million for the three months ended June 30, 2018, as compared with $7.5 million for the prior quarter and $7.6 million for the second quarter of 2017. Annualized net charge-offs to average loans for the second quarter of 2018 was 0.39%, down from 0.42% for the prior quarter and from 0.42% for the second quarter of 2017.
Net charge-offs of $13.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2018 were down as compared to $13.5 million for the same period of 2017. Provision expense was $16.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2018, as compared with $14.9 million for the same period of 2017. Provision expense increased compared to the first six months of 2017 primarily due to loan growth. Annualized net charge-offs to average loans for the first six months of 2018 was 0.40% as compared with 0.44% for the first six months of 2017.
Nonperforming loans to total loans was 0.38% at June 30, 2018, down 5 bps from 0.43% for the prior quarter and down 12 bps from 0.50% at June 30, 2017. Past due loans as a percentage of total loans were 0.50% at June 30, 2018, down from 0.53% at March 31, 2018 and 0.59% at June 30, 2017.
The allowance for loan losses totaled $72.5 million at June 30, 2018, compared to $70.2 million at March 31, 2018 and $66.6 million at June 30, 2017. The allowance for loan losses as a percentage of loans was 1.06% (1.11% excluding acquired loans) at June 30, 2018, compared to 1.06% (1.12% excluding acquired loans) at March 31, 2018 and to 1.05% (1.13% excluding acquired loans) at June 30, 2017.
Balance Sheet
Total assets were $9.5 billion at June 30, 2018, up $330.3 million, or 3.6%, from December 31, 2017. Loans were $6.9 billion at June 30, 2018, up $274.3 million, or 4.2%, from December 31, 2017. Total deposits were $7.3 billion at June 30, 2018, up $173.8 million, or 2.4%, from December 31, 2017, reflecting growth in core and municipal deposits. Stockholders’ equity was $978.9 million, representing a total equity-to-total assets ratio of 10.34% at June 30, 2018, compared with $958.2 million or a total equity-to-total assets ratio of 10.49% at December 31, 2017.
Dividend
The NBT Board of Directors approved a third-quarter 2018 cash dividend of $0.25 per share at a meeting held today. The dividend will be paid on September 14, 2018 to shareholders of record as of August 31, 2018.
Corporate Overview
NBT Bancorp Inc. is a financial holding company headquartered in Norwich, N.Y., with total assets of $9.5 billion at June 30, 2018. The Company primarily operates through NBT Bank, N.A., a full-service community bank and through two financial services companies. NBT Bank, N.A. has 152 banking locations in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. EPIC Retirement Plan Services, based in Rochester, N.Y., is a full-service 401(k) plan recordkeeping firm. NBT Insurance Agency, LLC, based in Norwich, N.Y., is a full-service insurance agency. More information about NBT and its divisions is available online at: www.nbtbancorp.com, www.nbtbank.com, www.epic1st.com and www.nbtinsurance.com.
Non-GAAP Measures
This press release contains financial information determined by methods other than in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”). These measures adjust GAAP measures to exclude the effects of acquisition related intangible amortization expense on earnings and equity as well as providing a FTE yield on securities and loans. Where non-GAAP disclosures are used in this press release, a reconciliation to the comparable GAAP measure, is provided in the accompanying tables. Management believes that these non-GAAP measures provided useful information that is important to an understanding of the results of NBT’s core business as well as provide information standard in the financial institution industry. Non-GAAP measures should not be considered a substitute for financial measures determined in accordance with GAAP and investors should consider NBT’s performance and financial condition as reported under GAAP and all other relevant information when assessing the performance or financial condition of NBT.
1The change in the Company’s quarterly deposit costs from December 31, 2015 to June 30, 2018 of 0.06% divided by the change in Federal Reserve’s target fed funds rate from December 2015 to June 30, 2018 of 1.75%
