Simmons First National Corp. made record net income of $55.2 million in the third quarter, an increase of 91 percent compared with the same period a year ago, the Pine Bluff bank reported Monday.
The bank earned 59 cents a share, a 34 percent increase from the third quarter last year. That beat the expectations of 58 cents a share predicted by six bank analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
Shares of Simmons fell 76 cents, or 2.9 percent, to close Monday at $25.64 in trading on the Nasdaq exchange. The shares have fallen almost 10 percent since the beginning of the year. Simmons released its earnings after the market closed.
Simmons had a 2-for-1 stock split effective Feb. 8.
"We continue to experience excellent growth in all of our markets," George Makris, chairman and chief executive officer, said in a prepared statement. "We are also very pleased that we have been able to balance year-to-date loan yields with deposit costs in this rising-rate environment."
Since December, the Federal Open Market Committee increased the federal funds target rate by 0.75 percent.
On Sept. 30, Simmons Bank had loans of $11.9 billion and total deposits of $12.1 billion.
Total loans increased $1.1 billion, or 10 percent, compared with June 30 this year. Total deposits increased $135 million, or 1.1 percent, compared with June 30.
On Sept. 30, Simmons Bank had allowance for loan losses for nonacquired loans of $55.4 million. The allowance for loan losses for loans acquired in purchases of other banks was $1.3 million.
Earnings for the third quarter reflect that Simmons First National has had consistent earnings for each quarter of 2018 with good improvement from 2017, said Garland Binns, a Little Rock banking attorney.
"And the third-quarter numbers for Simmons Bank show continued good loan growth," Binns said.
For the first nine months of the year, Simmons Bank had $160.1 million in net income and $1.72 earnings per share, compared with $74 million and $1.16 earnings per share for the same period last year.
Simmons had an efficiency ratio of 53.47 percent in the third quarter, down from 55.06 percent in the third quarter last year. That means that it cost Simmons $53.47 to earn $100 during the third quarter this year.
Simmons will conduct a conference call to discuss its third-quarter financial results at 9 a.m. today. Interested parties may listen to the call by dialing (866) 298-7926, asking for the Simmons conference call and providing the identification code 787-8976.
Simmons has offices in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
Business on 10/23/2018
