INDIANA, Pa., April 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- S&T Bancorp Inc. (S&T) (NASDAQ:STBA), the holding company for S&T Bank, announced net income of $31.2 million, or $0.81 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2024 compared to net income of $37.0 million, or $0.96 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2023 and net income of $39.8 million, or $1.02 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2023. First Quarter of 2024 Highlights: Solid return metrics with return on average assets (ROA) of 1.32%, return on average equity (ROE) of 9.74% and return on average tangible equity (ROTE) (non-GAAP) of 13.85% compared to ROA of 1.55%, ROE of 11.79% and ROTE (non-GAAP) of 17.00% for the fourth quarter of 2023. Pre-provision net revenue to average assets (PPNR) (non-GAAP) was 1.76% compared to 1.97% for the fourth quarter of 2023. Net interest margin (NIM) (FTE) (non-GAAP) remains strong at 3.84% compared to 3.92% in the fourth quarter of 2023. Total deposits increased $78.6 million to $7.6 billion at March 31, 2024 compared to $7.5 billion at December 31, 2023, representing the third consecutive quarter of deposit growth. Nonperforming assets remain low at $33.3 million, or 0.44% of total loans plus other real estate owned, or OREO, compared to $23.0 million, or 0.30% of total loans plus OREO, at December 31, 2023. "I am very pleased that we had a solid start to the year with excellent return metrics," said Chief Executive Officer Chris McComish. "Our team continues to execute on strategies that have driven our strong results and deposit growth. The deep customer relationships built by our dedicated teams are at the core of our success. And for a second year in a row, we were named to the 2024 Forbes list of America's Best Midsize Employers, based on survey feedback from our highly engaged employees. I am confident that our people-forward approach will continue to show positive results." Net Interest Income Net interest income was $83.5 million for the first quarter of 2024 compared to $85.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2023. The decrease of $1.6 million in net interest income was driven by higher funding costs, partially offset by higher yields on interest-earning assets. Net interest margin on a fully taxable equivalent basis (NIM) (FTE) (non-GAAP) remains strong at 3.84% compared to 3.92% in the prior quarter. The yield on total average loans increased 6 basis points to 6.25% compared to 6.19% in the fourth quarter of 2023. Average loan balances increased $103.4 million to $7.7 billion compared to $7.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023. Total interest-bearing deposit costs increased 24 basis points to 2.77% compared to 2.53% in the fourth quarter of 2023. Higher interest-bearing deposit costs primarily related to growth in higher costing deposit products combined with a continued shift in the mix of deposits. Average money market balances increased $76.7 million and average CD balances increased $105.8 million compared to the fourth quarter of 2023. Average borrowings decreased $26.9 million to $496.9 million compared to $523.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 due to higher average deposit balances. Asset Quality The allowance for credit losses was $104.8 million, or 1.37% of total portfolio loans, as of March 31, 2024, compared to $108.0 million, or 1.41%, at December 31, 2023. The provision for credit losses was $2.6 million for the first quarter of 2024 compared to $0.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. The increase in the provision for credit losses primarily related to higher net charge-offs offset by a lower level of required reserve compared to the fourth quarter of 2023. Net loan charge-offs were $6.6 million for the first quarter of 2024 compared to net loan charge-offs of $3.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. Nonperforming assets to total loans plus OREO remained low at 0.44% as of March 31, 2024, compared to 0.30% at December 31, 2023. Noninterest Income and Expense Noninterest income decreased $5.3 million to $12.8 million in the first quarter of 2024 compared to $18.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. The decrease is primarily due to a return to more normal levels of noninterest income in the first quarter of 2024 after experiencing unusual items in the fourth quarter of 2023 including a gain on OREO of $3.3 million and valuation adjustments on our commercial loan swaps of $0.3 million and on a nonqualified benefit plan of $0.8 million. Customer activity was also seasonally slower in the first quarter of 2024 resulting in lower debit card fees and service charges. Noninterest expense decreased $1.7 million to $54.5 million compared to $56.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. The decrease was primarily due to lower salaries and employee benefits of $1.4 million mainly related to a decrease in medical expense compared to the fourth quarter of 2023. Financial Condition Total assets were $9.5 billion at March 31, 2024, compared to $9.6 billion at December 31, 2023. Total portfolio loans remained unchanged at $7.7 billion compared to December 31, 2023. The consumer loan portfolio increased $40.8 million with growth in residential mortgages of $39.4 million compared to December 31, 2023. The commercial loan portfolio decreased $38.1 million primarily due to a decline in commercial and industrial of $45.0 million compared to December 31, 2023. Total deposits increased $78.6 million , or 4.2% annualized, compared to December 31, 2023. CDs increased $162.8 million compared to December 31, 2023, due to the replacement of $101.0 million of brokered money market funds with a like amount of brokered CDs and customers shifting from other deposit types. Total borrowings decreased $130.1 million to $373.5 million compared to $503.6 million at December 31, 2023 primarily related to deposit growth. S&T continues to maintain a strong regulatory capital position with all capital ratios above the well-capitalized thresholds of federal bank regulatory agencies. Conference Call S&T will host its first quarter 2024 earnings conference call live via webcast at 1:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 18, 2024. To access the webcast, go to S&T Bancorp Inc.'s investor relations webpage stbancorp.com. After the live presentation, the webcast will be archived at stbancorp.com for 12 months. About S&T Bancorp Inc. and S&T Bank S&T Bancorp Inc. is a $9.5 billion bank holding company that is headquartered in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol STBA. Its principal subsidiary, S&T Bank, was established in 1902 and operates in Pennsylvania and Ohio. S&T Bank was named by Forbes as a 2023 Best-in-State Bank. For more information, visit stbancorp.com or stbank.com. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Forward-Looking Statements This information contains or incorporates statements that we believe are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally relate to our financial condition, results of operations, plans, objectives, outlook for earnings, revenues, expenses, capital and liquidity levels and ratios, asset levels, asset quality, financial position and other matters regarding or affecting S&T and its future business and operations. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words or phrases such as "will likely result," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "intend," "believe," "assume," "strategy," "trend," "plan," "outlook," "outcome," "continue," "remain," "potential," "opportunity," "comfortable," "current," "position," "maintain," "sustain," "seek," "achieve" and variations of such words and similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as will, would, should, could or may. Although we believe the assumptions upon which these forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, any of these assumptions could prove to be inaccurate and the forward-looking statements based on these assumptions could be incorrect. The matters discussed in these forward-looking statements are subject to various risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results and trends to differ materially from those made, projected or implied in or by the forward-looking statements depending on a variety of uncertainties or other factors including, but not limited to: credit losses and the credit risk of our commercial and consumer loan products; changes in the level of charge-offs and changes in estimates of the adequacy of the allowance for credit losses, or ACL; cyber-security concerns; rapid technological developments and changes; operational risks or risk management failures by us or critical third parties, including fraud risk; our ability to manage our reputational risks; sensitivity to the interest rate environment, a rapid increase in interest rates or a change in the shape of the yield curve; a change in spreads on interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities; any remaining uncertainties with the transition from LIBOR as a reference rate; regulatory supervision and oversight, including changes in regulatory capital requirements and our ability to address those requirements; unanticipated changes in our liquidity position; unanticipated changes in regulatory and governmental policies impacting interest rates and financial markets; changes in accounting policies, practices or guidance; legislation affecting the financial services industry as a whole, and S&T, in particular; developments affecting the industry and the soundness of financial institutions and further disruption to the economy and U.S. banking system; the outcome of pending and future litigation and governmental proceedings; increasing price and product/service competition; the ability to continue to introduce competitive new products and services on a timely, cost-effective basis; managing our internal growth and acquisitions; the possibility that the anticipated benefits from acquisitions cannot be fully realized in a timely manner or at all, or that integrating the acquired operations will be more difficult, disruptive or costly than anticipated; containing costs and expenses; reliance on significant customer relationships; an interruption or cessation of an important service by a third-party provider; our ability to attract and retain talented executives and employees; general economic or business conditions, including the strength of regional economic conditions in our market area; ESG practices and disclosures, including climate change, hiring practices, the diversity of the work force, and racial and social justice issues; deterioration of the housing market and reduced demand for mortgages; deterioration in the overall macroeconomic conditions or the state of the banking industry that could warrant further analysis of the carrying value of goodwill and could result in an adjustment to its carrying value resulting in a non-cash charge to net income; the stability of our core deposit base and access to contingency funding; re-emergence of turbulence in significant portions of the global financial and real estate markets that could impact our performance, both directly, by affecting our revenues and the value of our assets and liabilities, and indirectly, by affecting the economy generally and access to capital in the amounts, at the times and on the terms required to support our future businesses and geopolitical tensions and conflicts between nations. Many of these factors, as well as other factors, are described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, including Part I, Item 1A-"Risk Factors" and any of our subsequent filings with the SEC. Forward-looking statements are based on beliefs and assumptions using information available at the time the statements are made. We caution you not to unduly rely on forward-looking statements because the assumptions, beliefs, expectations and projections about future events may, and often do, differ materially from actual results. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as to the date on which it is made, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect developments occurring after the statement is made. Non-GAAP Financial Measures In addition to traditional measures presented in accordance with GAAP, our management uses, and this information contains or references, certain non-GAAP financial measures, such as tangible book value, return on average tangible shareholder's equity, PPNR to average assets, efficiency ratio, tangible common equity to tangible assets and net interest margin on an FTE basis. We believe these non-GAAP financial measures provide information useful to investors in understanding our underlying operational performance and our business and performance trends as they facilitate comparisons with the performance of other companies in the financial services industry. Although we believe that these non-GAAP financial measures enhance investors' understanding of our business and performance, these non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered alternatives to GAAP or considered to be more important than financial results determined in accordance with GAAP, nor are they necessarily comparable with non-GAAP measures which may be presented by other companies. See Definitions and Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures for more information related to these financial measures.   S&T Bancorp, Inc. Consolidated Selected Financial Data Unaudited 2024 2023 2023 First Fourth First (dollars in thousands, except per share data) Quarter Quarter Quarter INTEREST AND DIVIDEND INCOME Loans, including fees $118,577 $117,443 $102,724 Investment Securities: Taxable 8,595 8,491 7,457 Tax-exempt 193 210 214 Dividends 389 562 508 Total Interest and Dividend Income 127,754 126,706 110,903 INTEREST EXPENSE Deposits 36,662 32,921 14,903 Borrowings, junior subordinated debt securities and other 7,615 8,676 7,209 Total Interest Expense 44,277 41,597 22,112 NET INTEREST INCOME 83,477 85,109 88,791 Provision for credit losses 2,627 943 922 Net Interest Income After Provision for Credit Losses 80,850 84,166 87,869 NONINTEREST INCOME Net gain on sale of securities 3 — — Debit and credit card 4,235 4,540 4,373 Service charges on deposit accounts 3,828 4,129 4,076 Wealth management 3,042 3,050 2,948 Mortgage banking 277 280 301 Other 1,445 6,062 1,492 Total Noninterest Income 12,830 18,061 13,190 NONINTEREST EXPENSE Salaries and employee benefits 29,512 30,949 27,601 Data processing and information technology 4,954 4,523 4,258 Occupancy 3,870 3,598 3,835 Furniture, equipment and software 3,472 3,734 2,861 Marketing 1,943 1,435 1,853 Other taxes 1,871 1,870 1,790 Professional services and legal 1,720 1,968 1,821 FDIC insurance 1,049 1,049 1,012 Other noninterest expense 6,129 7,077 6,668 Total Noninterest Expense 54,520 56,203 51,699 Income Before Taxes 39,160 46,024 49,360 Income tax expense 7,921 8,977 9,561 Net Income $31,239 $37,047 $39,799 Per Share Data Shares outstanding at end of period 38,233,280 38,232,806 38,998,156 Average shares outstanding - diluted 38,418,085 38,379,493 39,032,062 Diluted earnings per share $0.81 $0.96 $1.02 Dividends declared per share $0.33 $0.33 $0.32 Dividend yield (annualized) 4.11 % 3.95 % 4.07 % Dividends paid to net income 40.39 % 34.04 % 31.10 % Book value $33.87 $33.57 $31.48 Tangible book value (1) $24.03 $23.72 $21.81 Market value $32.08 $33.42 $31.45 Profitability Ratios (Annualized) Return on average assets 1.32 % 1.55 % 1.77 % Return on average shareholders' equity 9.74 %