Business
Western New England Bancorp, Inc. Reports Results for the Three Months and Year Ended December 31, 2022 and Announces 17% Increase in Quarterly Cash Dividend
WESTFIELD, Mass., Jan. 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Western New England Bancorp, Inc. (the “Company” or “WNEB”) (NasdaqGS: WNEB), the holding company for
About this update from Western New England Bancorp, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"WESTFIELD, Mass., Jan. 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Western New England Bancorp, Inc. (the “Company” or “WNEB”) (NasdaqGS: WNEB), the holding company for Westfield Bank (the “Bank”), announced today the unaudited results of operations for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2022. For the three months ended December 31, 2022, the Company reported net income of $9.0 million, or $0.42 per diluted share, compared to net income of $6.2 million, or $0.28 per diluted share, for the three months ended December 31, 2021. On a linked quarter basis, net income was $9.0 million, or $0.42 per diluted share, as compared to net income of $6.0 million, or $0.28 per diluted share, for the three months ended September 30, 2022. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2022, net income was $25.9 million, or $1.18 per diluted share, compared to net income of $23.7 million, or $1.02 per diluted share, for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021. The Company also announced today that the Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.07 per share on its common stock, representing an increase of $0.01 per share, or 17%, as compared to the prior quarter. The dividend will be payable on or about February 22, 2023 to shareholders of record on February 8, 2023. James Hagan, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We are very pleased to report that the Company delivered record earnings for the fourth quarter along with concrete earnings for 2022, with an increasing net interest margin, strong revenue and a lower efficiency ratio derived from solid loan growth across all loan segments. As a Company, we have continued to focus on expanding and attracting new loan and core deposit relationships in our existing and expanded markets, which resulted in loan growth coming in ahead of internal targets on a quarterly and annual basis. As a result of these continuing efforts, for the year-ended December 31, 2022, average non-interest bearing demand deposits represented 28.6% of total average deposits. With our strong balance sheet, combined with rising interest rates, and with the deployment of excess liquidity to fund our loan growth, we are pleased to report a higher net interest margin of 3.44% for the fourth quarter 2022 as compared to September 30, 2022. As the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) comes to an end, the Company...