People’s United Financial Inc. reported first quarter net income of $52.5 million, or 16 cents per share, down slightly from earnings of 17 cents per share for the first quarter of 2012.
The parent company of People’s United Bank, Fairfield County’s largest bank by branches, said commercial banking loans, excluding loans that were acquired, increased nearly $500 million from Dec. 31, 2012, to March 31.
“In what is typically a seasonally slower quarter for loan growth, we saw the benefits of our expanded footprint and strengthened product line-up, which resulted in annualized linked quarter loan growth of 8 percent,” said Jack Barnes, president and CEO, in an April 18 statement. People’s United is headquartered in Bridgeport and has 65 offices and more than $6.1 billion in deposits in Fairfield County.
Operating earnings for the quarter were $57.9 million, or 18 cents per share – in line with analysts’ expectations and unchanged on a per-share basis from the first quarter of 2012.
Barnes said the bank’s net interest margin “has now largely stabilized,” which he said “should allow net interest income to increase at a pace more closely aligned with our earning asset growth in the quarters ahead.”
People’s United also announced it increased its quarterly dividend to 16.25 cents per share, up from 16 cents per share.
