Record $17.2M Quarter, $4B Deposits, and a $1 Special Dividend
AMBZ sits 33% above its 52-week low of $52.61 on light trading volume (0.1× avg).
Summary
American Business Bank posted record net income of $17.2 million, or $1.89 per diluted share, up 6% from the June quarter and 20% from a year ago. Deposits crossed $4 billion, rising $113 million (3%) in the quarter, and net interest margin widened to 3.99% from 3.92% as deposit costs held at 0.98%. Shareholders got a $1.00 special dividend on top of the $0.30 regular payout, and the board authorized a third buyback for 288,555 shares, about 3.25% of the float. The blemish is credit: criticized loans climbed to 4.84% of total loans from 4.34% and classified loans to 1.30% from 1.02%, driven by an $11 million non-owner-occupied property, though management says it received a demand on that credit in October and $2 million of new NPAs were paid off. Management also guided that net loan growth will be lower this year than last.
At the time of this announcement, AMBZ was trading at $70.00 on OTC in the Finance sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $620.6M. The 52-week trading range was $52.61 to $73.77. This news item was assessed with positive market sentiment and an importance score of 7 out of 10. Source: BusinessWire.