The parent company of one of Tennessee's fastest-growing banks on Tuesday reported lower fourth-quarter earnings that were below Wall Street estimates.
FB Financial Corp., the Nashville-based parent company of FirstBank, earned $17 million, or 54 cents per share, in the fourth quarter. That was down form the $23 million, or 74 cents per share, of net income a year earlier. When adjusted for merger expenses and one-time expenses, earnings were down from 59 cents a year ago to 55 cents this year. But that was still below the average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research for 65 cents per share.
The bank holding company posted revenue of $90.3 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $73.6 million, which also did not meet Street forecasts.
For the year, the company reported profit of $80.2 million, or $2.55 per share. Revenue was reported as $329.7 million.
FB Financial acquired the former Northwest Georgia Bank in the Chattanooga market three years ago and is the process of buying 14 branches from Atlantic Capital Bank in East Tennessee, which company president Chris Holmes said should close this spring.
"For the year, our loan growth and customer deposit growth were very strong at 15.8 percent and 13.7 percent, respectively," Holmes said. "Our net interest margin of 4.5 percent contracted during the quarter, as expected, but continues to be near the top of our peers."