Blue Hills Bancorp, the holding company of Blue Hills Bank, reported net income of $3.8 million, or $0.16 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2017, compared to net income of $1.6 million, or $0.07 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2016.
Net interest and dividend income was $17 million in the third quarter of 2017, up $2.5 million, or 17 percent, from $14.5 million in the third quarter of 2016. The net interest margin rose two points over the linked quarter to 2.77 percent, an increase of 10 basis points from this time last year.
Noninterest income for the third quarter was $2.8 million, a roughly $1.3 million decrease from the third quarter of last year. This was primarily a result of smaller securities gains, smaller bank-owned life insurance death benefit gains, lower loan level derivative income, as well as losses on the sale of home equity loans recorded in the current quarter.
“A key theme for us this year has been improved operating leverage and for the first nine months of 2017 revenues, excluding securities gains and other nonrecurring items, have grown 20 percent from a year ago while noninterest expense has risen just 5 percent and has been flat in each of the last three quarters,” William Parent, president and CEO of Blue Hills Bancorp, said in a statement. “While we will continue to invest in our businesses to lay the groundwork for future bottom line growth, we have the opportunity to generate continued operating leverage.”
Total loans grew more than $320 million year-over-year, led by nearly $160 million in loan growth in one- to four-family residential real estate loans year-over-year. Other notable loan increases came in commercial real estate and commercial business loans, while consumer and home equity loans saw declines year-over-year.
Total assets grew more than $230 million year-over-year, pushing total assets past $2.5 billion. Total deposits were up over $300 million year-over-year, with the bank’s new branch in the Seaport, which has been open for about a year, reached $85 million at the end of the third quarter.
The provision for loan losses was $242,000 in the third quarter of 2017, compared to $2.9 million in the third quarter of 2016, which had included a $2.7 million provision related to problem loans associated with one commercial customer.
The allowance for loan losses as a percentage of total loans was 0.97 percent at Sept. 30, compared to 1.01 percent at this time last year. The company had net loan recoveries of $89,000 in the third quarter of 2017, compared to net loan charge-offs of $3.2 million in the third quarter of 2016, which again were due mainly to $3.3 million of charge-offs related to problem loans associated with one commercial customer.
