Bank of Hawaii Corp. achieved records for net income, earnings per share and deposits in a robust first quarter and said Monday it was raising its dividend for the third time in 12 months.
The state’s second-largest bank blew past analysts’ estimates as its net income jumped 8.8% to $58.8 million on earnings per share of $1.43, which was 7 cents better than the consensus estimate and 2 cents above the highest forecast from six analysts.
In the year-earlier quarter, Bankoh earned $54 million, or $1.28 a share.
“I was expecting a good quarter, and as we kind of delved into it, what I was struck by was just about every performance factor performed well, which is not normal,” Bankoh CEO Peter Ho said. “Usually, some things go really well and some things not so well, but for the first quarter of 2019, we were really firing on all cylinders from the lending standpoint and deposit standpoint, fee income was a good story in the quarter and expense management was really well controlled.”
Bankoh, which has been targeting mid-single-digit loan growth, saw its lending portfolio grow 6.4% to $10.5 billion. Commercial loans rose 5.5% to $4 billion, and consumer loans increased 6.9% to $6.5 billion.
Deposits rose 2.1% to $15.3 billion while assets increased 1.8% to $17.4 billion.
The quarterly dividend approved by the bank’s board was for an increase of 3 cents a share, to 65 cents. It will be payable June 14 to shareholders of record at the close of business May 31.
“Our dividend policy is that roughly 50 percent of earnings should be paid out in dividends,” Ho said. “So as the company’s earnings have gone up, our dividend policy has pushed those dividend increases to what they are today. That is what historically has moved the dividend.”
The bank’s net interest income — the difference between how much it pays for deposits and what it charges for loans — rose 4.9% to $124.8 million from the year-earlier period. Its net interest margin jumped 12 basis points to 3.12% from 3.00% in the year-earlier quarter.
Noninterest income, which includes service charges and fees, dipped 0.8% to $43.7 million.
Bankoh’s stock rose 50 cents, or 0.6%, to $81.28 after financial results were released and are now up 20.7% since the start of the year.
FIRST-QUARTER NET
$58.8 million
YEAR-EARLIER NET
$54 million
