Common book value per share increased $1.08 to $30.12 at March 31, 2023. Tangible common book value per share increased $1.13 to $21.76 at March 31, 2023 as this quarter’s earnings outpaced the quarterly dividend and benefitted from a $0.25 per share decrease in accumulated other comprehensive loss.
Year-Over-Year Review
(All comparisons refer to the first quarter 2022, except as noted)
Net income totaled $40.3 million or $1.06 per diluted share, compared to $18.4 million or $0.60 per diluted share for the first quarter of 2022. The quarter’s increase over the same period prior year was driven by strong net interest income due to increases in the Federal Reserve’s interest rates and strong organic and acquired loan growth. Fully taxable equivalent pre-provision net revenue increased $29.7 million, or 129.6%, to $52.7 million. The return on average tangible assets was 1.80%, compared to 1.07% in the same period prior year, and the return on average tangible common equity was 20.86%, compared to 10.31%.
Fully taxable equivalent net interest income totaled $96.3 million, an increase of $48.3 million or 100.7%. Average earning assets increased $2.2 billion, or 32.8%, including average originated loan growth of $1.2 billion and average acquired loan growth of $1.6 billion. The fully taxable equivalent net interest margin widened 149 basis points to 4.39%, benefitting from a 216 basis point increase in earning asset yields to 5.24%. Total interest bearing liabilities increased $1.5 billion to $5.4 billion at March 31, 2023, and the cost of funds totaled 0.90%, compared to 0.19% in the same period prior year.
Loans outstanding totaled $7.3 billion, increasing $2.7 billion or 57.1%, and included $1.7 billion of loans acquired through the Rock Canyon Bank and Bank of Jackson Hole acquisitions in 2022. New loan fundings over the trailing 12 months totaled $2.0 billion, led by commercial loan fundings of $1.1 billion.
The Company recorded $0.9 million of provision expense for credit loss during the first quarter 2023, compared to a provision release of $0.3 million in the same period prior year. The current quarter’s provision expense was driven by loan growth. Annualized net charge-offs decreased four basis points to 0.01% of average total loans during the first quarter 2023. Non-performing loans to total loans improved 11 basis points to 0.13%, and non-performing assets to total loans and OREO improved 17 basis points to 0.18% at March 31, 2023. The allowance for credit losses totaled 1.23% of total loans, compared to 1.04% at March 31, 2022.
Average total deposits increased $1.5 billion or 24.2% to $7.7 billion, primarily due to the 2022 acquisitions. Average transaction deposits increased $1.4 billion or 26.1%, and average non-interest bearing demand deposits increased $570.4 million or 23.4%. The mix of transaction deposits to total deposits totaled 87.1%, compared to 87.4% at March 31, 2022, and the mix of non-interest bearing demand deposits to total deposits totaled 38.5%, compared to 40.1% at March 31, 2022.
Non-interest income totaled $14.7 million, a decrease of $4.4 million or 23.0%, largely driven by $6.5 million of lower mortgage banking income due to lower refinance activity, as well as competition driving tighter gain on sale margins. Service charges and bank card fees increased a combined $0.9 million compared to the same period prior year. Other non-interest income increased $1.9 million and included $0.5 million of trust income.
Non-interest expense totaled $58.3 million, an increase of $14.2 million, or 32.2%, largely driven by an increase in core operating expenses driven by our 2022 acquisitions. Included in other non-interest expense is $1.7 million higher FDIC deposit insurance expense as a result of our recent acquisitions and an increase in the FDIC assessment rate effective January 2023.
Income tax expense totaled $10.1 million, an increase of $6.5 million from the first quarter last year, driven by higher pre-tax income.