Huntington Reports Net Income of $178.5M
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Huntington Bancshares Inc., parent of Huntington National Bank, Thursday reported third-quarter net income of $178.5 million, or 20 cents per common share.
This compares to second-quarter net income of $150.7 million, 17 cents per common share, and third-quarter 2012 net income of $167.8 million, or 19 cents a share.
The board of directors declared a five-cent cash divided on Huntington common stock payable Jan. 2 to shareholders of record Dec. 19.
Year-over-year results, noted Frank Hierro in Youngstown, president of the bank’s Mahoning Valley region, reflect a 6% increase in net income.
In a prepared statement, the president, chairman and CEO of Huntington, Stephen D. Steinhour, said, “Huntington’s third-quarter results continue to demonstrate that our uniquely positioned products are driving robust organic customer acquisition across our commercial and consumer customer base while delivering stable returns to shareholders. Through our disciplined investments in fee-income businesses in conjunction with prudent expense management, we have been able to deliver modest positive operating leverage for the first nine months of the year. … Overall, it was a solid quarter positioning Huntington for a good finish for 2013.”
Highlights the company pointed to in its earnings release:
- $2 million, or less than 1%, increase in fully taxable equivalent revenue.
- $23 million, or 5% decrease in noninterest expense included $17 million of significant items.
- Two million shares repurchased at an average price of $8.18 per share. (Trading in Huntington shares Thursday was heavy, a volume of 19.30 million compared to its daily average of 10.33 million. Shares closed at $8.88, up 28 cents and two cents below its 52-week high of $8.90.)
In a conference call with reporters, Hierro noted that indirect auto lending at Huntington hit a record for the quarter with $1.16 billion lent and that the bank began financing vehicles sold by dealers in Connecticut and Iowa. He also said the Mahoning Valley region outpaced the bank as a whole in its percentage gain of new households as customers and in deposits.
As the release stated, “Automobile and C&I [commercial and industrial loans] continue to drive growth.”
Key ratios for the quarters ended Sept. 30, June 30 and Sept. 30, 2012:
- Return on average assets, 1.27%, 1.08%, 1.19%.
- Return on average common equity, 12.3%, 10.4%, 11.9%.
- Net interest margin, 3.34%, 3.38%, 3.38%.
- Efficiency ratio, 60.6%, 64.0%, 64.5%.
Mortgage banking fee income fell to $23.6 million during the quarter from the $33.7 million reported for the second quarter and $44.6 million reported for the third quarter of 2012. This reflects the industry trend of rising mortgage rates and that nearly all who could benefit from refinancing their mortgages have done so.
Total noninterest or fee income, $250.5 million, was slightly ahead of the second quarter, $247.8 million, but down from the $261.1 million reported for the third quarter of 2012.
Noninterest expense -- wages and benefits, rents, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. premiums, marketing -- fell to $423.3 million from $445.9 million the second quarter and $458.3 million a year ago. Much of the 7% decrease in personnel expense, $18 million, reflects the one-time $34 million noncash gain related to pension curtailment, Huntington said.
Nonperforming assets, which include loans 90 and more days past due and repossessed real estate – fell to $374.26 million from $396.70 million at June 30 and $509.73 million at Sept. 30, 2012. As a percentage of all assets, nonperforming assets fell to 0.78% from 0.87% the previous quarter and 1.11% a year ago.
The provision for credit losses decreased $26 million from a year ago, the company reported.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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