Simmons First National Corp. of Pine Bluff on Tuesday reported second-quarter net income of $74.9 million, up 27% from the same quarter last year.
Earnings rose to 69 cents per share, up from 54 cents in the same quarter last year.
The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 51 cents per share.
The bank holding company posted revenue of $214.9 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $194.5 million, also exceeding Wall Street forecasts.
The company said that, excluding one-time items, quarterly “core earnings” were $75.4 million, up 25% from $60.1 million in the second quarter of 2020. Core diluted earnings per share were 69 cents, up 25% from 54 cents from the comparable period last year.
“Overall we were very pleased with our results for the quarter as we delivered solid performance in multiple areas while continuing to navigate the challenging environment,” Chairman and CEO George A. Makris Jr. said in a news release.
Makris said loan growth throughout the financial service industry has been hampered by government stimulus, resulting in “sluggish demand” for loans and “historically high levels of paydowns.” Still, the company generated $1.8 billion in loan originations and advances during the first half of the year, putting the company on pace to “significantly exceed” loan production volume for all of 2020.
“Our commercial loan pipeline has increased for three consecutive quarters and we are cautiously optimistic that this trend is a positive sign going forward,” Makris said.
The company also said its board voted expand its shares repurchase program to $150 million and extend its expiration to October 2022.
The company had $23.4 billion in assets as of June 30.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
Sign up for Daily E-news
