The Company also announced that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.13 per common share, representing a 4% increase from the $0.125 cash dividend declared in the prior quarter. The dividend is payable on June 1, 2021 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 12, 2021.
William E. "Bill" Edwards, III, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, commented, "We are pleased to start out 2021 with another successful quarter which saw adjusted net income (non-GAAP) increase 27% from $3.4 million in the first quarter of 2020 to $4.3 million in the same quarter of 2021, while adjusted earnings per diluted share (non-GAAP) increased 28% from $0.54 to $0.69 over the same period.
"I am proud to say that we have continued to support our clients and communities by actively participating in the second round of PPP, where we have loaned nearly $37 million and earned $1.7 million in fees as of March 31, 2021.
"Our allowance to non-PPP loans (non-GAAP) currently stands at 1.53%, and I am happy to report that our COVID-related modifications consist of only one $6.8 million hotel relationship as of March 31, 2021.
"Based on this and continued strong asset quality and positive signs in the economies in our markets, we did not provide any additional allowance for loan losses in the first quarter of 2021. We continue to remain highly focused on delivering strong returns to our shareholders, which we believe is reflected in our adjusted return on average equity (non-GAAP) increasing from 14.60% in the first quarter of 2020 to 16.30% in the same period of 2021, a year-over-year increase of 11.6%.
"From an asset quality perspective, our non-performing assets to total assets remain low at 0.27% at March 31, 2021, up slightly from 0.16% at December 31, 2020.
"Finally, in order to provide an additional source of liquidity and increased returns for our shareholders, we announced a $5 million share repurchase authorization on April 12, 2021, and increased our quarterly dividend by 4% to $0.13 per quarter." ■