Randy Chesler
Analyst · Piper Sandler. Your line is now open
All right. Thank you very much. Sorry for the technical difficulties. I think, we're ready to go. So, good morning, and thank you for joining us today. With me here in Kalispell this morning is Ron Copher, our Chief Financial Officer; Angela Dose, our Chief Accounting Officer; Byron Pollan, our Treasurer; Tom Dolan, our Chief Credit Administrator and Don Chery, our Chief Administrative Officer. I'd like to point out that the discussion today is subject to the same forward-looking considerations found on Page 14 of our press release, and we encourage you to take a careful review of this section. We released our fourth quarter and full year 2023 earnings after the close of the market yesterday, and the Glacier Bancorp team wrapped up a challenging year with a very strong quarter. We achieved earnings per share of $0.49, which increased $0.02 per share from the prior quarter. Net income was $54.3 million for the current quarter, an increase of $1.9 million, or 4%, from the prior quarter. Interest income of $273 million in the current quarter increased 8.6 million, or 3%, over the prior quarter. Net interest margin on a tax equivalent basis was 2.56% versus 2.58% in the prior quarter, our smallest quarterly decrease this year. Total non-interest expense of $132 million for the current quarter, including a one-time $6 million FDIC special assessment, increased only $2.6 million, or 2%, over the prior quarter. The portfolio loan yield of 5.34% increased seven basis points from the prior quarter. New loan production yields were 8.24%, up 32 basis points from the last quarter. Non-performing assets to bank assets decreased $16.7 million, or 39% from the prior quarter to 9% or nine basis points of assets. Net charge-offs to total loans ended the year at only six basis points. Provision expense for the quarter was $3 million, which was stable, compared to the prior quarter provision expense of $3.5 million. The allowance for credit losses, as a percentage of total loans outstanding at year-end was 1.19%, flat to the prior quarter, and relatively unchanged, compared to the 1.2% in the prior - year fourth quarter. While the industry saw a significant outflow of deposits during the year, the company's core deposits and retail purchase agreements only decreased $108 million, or 50 basis points from the prior year-end. The company ended the year with $1.3 billion in cash, which was an increase of $952 million over the prior year-end. Stockholders' equity of $3 billion increased $146 million for the quarter, or 5%, and increased $177 million, or 6%, over the prior year-end. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.33 a share, and the company has declared 155 consecutive quarterly dividends, and has increased the dividend 49 times. And we received all regulatory approvals for the acquisition of Wheatland Bank, a leading Eastern Washington community bank headquartered in Spokane, with total assets of $728 million as of the end of the year. This will be our 25th acquisition since 2000, and we will close the transaction on January 31. We welcome the Wheatland team to Glacier Bancorp. Despite the significant volatility in the banking industry in 2023, with two of the largest bank failures in history, depositors' fear of bank safety and historic interest rate increases, the Glacier team did an excellent job taking care of customers and communities across the West, and ended 2023 well-positioned for a strong 2024. So that ends my formal remarks, and I would now like Norma to open the line for any questions that our analysts may have.