Westfield Financial, the holding company for Westfield Bank, reported net income of $2 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016.
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This compares to $1.3 million, or $0.08 per diluted share, for the quarter ended March 31, 2015.
Total loans increased $96.6 million, or 13.2%, to $827.0 million at March 31, 2016 compared to $730.4 million at March 31, 2015. This was primarily due to increases in residential loans of $63.6 million and commercial real estate loans of $36.0 million.
On a sequential-quarter basis, total loans increased $8.8 million, or 1.1%, from $818.2 million at December 31, 2015.
This was due to an increase in commercial real estate loans of $20.1 million, offset by a decrease in commercial and industrial loans of $10.8 million, primarily due to the payoff of an $8.8 million loan relationship that occurred late in the first quarter of 2016 and was considered a Shared National Credit.
Net interest and dividend income increased $653,000 to $8.2 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 compared to $7.6 million for the comparable 2015 period. On a sequential-quarter basis, net interest and dividend income increased $90,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, compared to the quarter ended December 31, 2015.
For the quarter ended March 31, 2016, Westfield Financial recorded a $600,000 credit to the provision for loan losses, compared to $300,000 in provision expense for the quarter ended March 31, 2015. The credit to the provision was primarily the result of an $852,000 recovery on a single commercial real estate loan.
Securities declined $198.9 million, or 38.6%, to $316.3 million at March 31, 2016, compared to $515.2 million at March 31, 2015. On a sequential-quarter basis, securities decreased by $119.6 million, or 27.4%, at March 31, 2016, compared to $435.9 million at December 31, 2015.
During the current quarter, the Bank transferred its securities classified as held-to-maturity into available-for-sale. A total of $136.8 million in securities were sold near the end of the quarter which resulted in a net gain of $685,000 for the first quarter 2016.
The Bank prepaid long-term Federal Home Loan Bank borrowings in the amount of $42.5 million with a weighted average rate of 2.29% and incurred a prepayment expense of $915,000 for the first quarter 2016 in order to reduce reliance on wholesale funding.
Tangible book value at March 31, 2016 was $7.83 per share, an increase of 2.6% from the prior quarter ended December 31, 2015 and an increase of 3.6% from the first quarter of 2015, and represents its highest level since the first quarter of 2013. ■