First Bank Beats Prior Quarters With $12.2M Profit, Hikes Dividend 33% and Authorizes $24M Buyback
FRBA sits 30% above its 52-week low of $14.405.
Summary
First Bank earned $12.2 million, or $0.49 per diluted share, in Q3 2026 — up from $10.9 million ($0.43) in Q2 and $11.7 million ($0.47) a year ago. Net interest margin widened to 3.74% from 3.68% linked-quarter as loan yields rose 15 basis points and the bank paid down $90.1 million of higher-cost borrowings. Loans grew 5.9% annualized to $3.42 billion and deposits 5.1% annualized to $3.37 billion, with the efficiency ratio improving to 52.37% from 54.52%. The board raised the quarterly dividend 33% to $0.12 per share from $0.09, payable November 20 to holders of record November 6, and approved a fresh buyback of up to 1.2 million shares worth up to $24.0 million through September 2027. The blemish is credit: nonperforming assets climbed to $35.7 million, or 0.88% of assets, from $32.7 million at June 30 and $14.4 million a year ago, and the allowance now covers just 1.32 times nonperforming loans versus 2.93 times a year earlier — though management says a $5.6 million paydown on a nonperforming loan after quarter-end pushed the total below June 30 levels. Earnings call is October 23 at 9:00 AM ET.
At the time of this announcement, FRBA was trading at $18.71 on NASDAQ in the Finance sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $459.2M. The 52-week trading range was $14.41 to $19.33. This news item was assessed with positive market sentiment and an importance score of 8 out of 10. Source: GlobeNewswire.