Business
Northwest Bancshares, Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter 2020 Earnings and Quarterly Dividend
WARREN, Pa., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwest Bancshares, Inc., (the "Company"), (NasdaqGS: NWBI) announced net income for the quarter ended December
About this update from Northwest Bancshares, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"WARREN, Pa., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwest Bancshares, Inc., (the \"Company\"), (NasdaqGS: NWBI) announced net income for the quarter ended December 31, 2020 of $35.1 million, or $0.28 per diluted share. This represents an increase of $9.5 million, or 37.0%, compared to the same quarter last year when net income was $25.6 million, or $0.24 per diluted share. The annualized returns on average shareholders' equity and average assets for the quarter ended December 31, 2020 were 9.00% and 1.01% compared to 7.52% and 0.97% for the same quarter last year. \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \nThe Company also announced that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.19 per share payable on February 15, 2021 to shareholders of record as of February 4, 2021. This is the 105th consecutive quarter in which the Company has paid a cash dividend. Ronald J. Seiffert, Chairman, President and CEO, added, \"We are extremely proud that we were able to maintain our dividend throughout 2020 despite the challenges of COVID-19 on bank earnings. Based on the current market value of the Company's stock, this represents an annualized dividend yield of approximately 5.50%, which continues to be among the highest in our peer group.\"\nMr. Seiffert continued, \"When looking back over a very challenging 2020, I am amazed at what our team accomplished during the midst of COVID-19. We successfully adopted CECL in the first quarter followed closely by the close and conversion of MutualBank on April 24th, the largest acquisition in the company's history. We also completed a very successful $125 million sub-debt offering in September. This additional liquidity and capital at the holding company allowed us to resume our existing five million share common stock buyback program, of which we successfully repurchased approximately 760,000 shares in the fourth quarter at an average price of $12.20. Finally, we completed our branch optimization program which resulted in the consolidation of 43 offices in December 2020. In addition to all of these initiatives, we will be launching our digital strategy this year which will significantly enhance our online banking capabilities and streamline our account opening processes. We want to give our customers the same award winning experience online as they are accustomed to receiving in our branch offices. In...