Farmers & Merchants Bancorp reports Q3 EPS $29.96 vs. $29.39 last year

Kent Steinwert, Farmers & Merchants Bancorp’s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “We are pleased with the Company’s strong ongoing financial performance including the results in the first nine months of 2024 highlighted by net income of $66.6 million, return on average assets of 1.65%, and a return on average equity of 15.55%. Our earnings per share over the trailing twelve months ended September 30, 2024 totaled $118.46, up 3.79% compared with $114.13 per share for the same trailing period a year ago. We achieved these strong results while continuing to maintain a solid liquidity position and balance sheet at quarter end with $1.5 billion of cash and investments, access to $2.1 billion in borrowing capacity and total shareholders’ equity of $602.7 million up $72.1 million or 13.58% from September 30, 2023. Capital levels continued to strengthen and are significantly above the regulatory thresholds for “well-capitalized” banks. Our longstanding established client relationships have contributed to our resilient and stable deposit balances of $4.7 billion as of September 30, 2024 and 2023. The loan portfolio continues to grow both during the third quarter and year over year as we continue to serve the needs of our customers and local communities. Consistent with the last several years, credit quality remains a strength of the Bank with a total allowance for credit losses of 2.11% and only $677,000 in non-accrual loans as of quarter-end. Our Company remains in excellent financial condition and is well positioned to meet any challenges ahead as we have for the past 108 years. We are also pleased to be recognized by others for our performance as Farmers & Merchants Bancorp was named by Bank Director’s Magazine as the #2 best performing bank in the nation across all asset categories in their annual “Ranking Banking” study of the top performing banks for 2023. This follows our #1 ranking in the prior year of the top performing banks for 2022. The recognition over the last two years can be traced to our strong client relationships and the focus of our employees on serving our clients.” Net interest income for the quarter ended September 30, 2024 was $52.0 million, an increase from $50.8 million in the second quarter of 2024. For the third quarter of 2024 the net interest margin increased to 4.07% compared to 3.91% in the second quarter of 2024 driven by a decrease in the average cost of total deposits from 1.51% in the second quarter of 2024 to 1.39% in the third quarter of 2024. Net interest income for the nine-months ended September 30, 2024 was $154.5 million, a decrease of $7.1 million, or 4.39%, when compared with the $161.6 million for the same period in 2023 as the increase in deposit costs outpaced the increase in loan yields. Loan yields increased to 6.11% for the first nine-months of 2024 compared to 5.77% for the same period in 2023 while the average cost of total deposits increased to 1.39% for the first nine-months of 2024 compared to 0.70% in the first nine-months of 2023. The net interest margin of 4.04% and average cost of total deposits of 1.39% for the nine-months ended September 30, 2024 continue to outperform industry averages.