Pacific Premier reports Q4 adjusted EPS 51c, consensus 48c

Net interest margin expanded 16 basis points to 3.28%. Steven Gardner, Chairman, CEO, and President of the Company, commented, “Our team delivered another solid quarter to close out 2023, an extraordinary year for the banking industry. During the fourth quarter, we proactively repositioned our securities portfolio to enhance our future earnings profile and provide additional liquidity as we navigate a challenging operating environment. The repositioning produced immediate results, fueling a 16 basis point net interest margin expansion in the fourth quarter while our capital ratios remain among the strongest in the industry. We generated $0.51 per share in operating earnings when excluding the impact from the securities portfolio repositioning and the FDIC special assessment expense. Our financial performance continues to demonstrate the strength of our franchise and our disciplined commitment to prudent capital, liquidity, and credit risk management. Throughout the year, we leveraged our best-in-class service to deepen our relationships with existing clients and attract new clients to the Bank, generating meaningful growth in new deposit account openings while maintaining pricing discipline. The new account opening activity, coupled with our ability to opportunistically deploy liquidity generated from the securities portfolio repositioning, allowed us to reduce higher cost wholesale funding in the fourth quarter by $817 million and to tightly manage our overall cost of funds, which increased only two basis points to 1.69%. We enter 2024 on solid footing, with strong capital levels, ready access to significant liquidity, and favorable asset quality measures. Through our relationship-based business model, our bankers consistently communicate with our clients and monitor key trends within their individual businesses and industries. This access provides our organization with valuable information relative to market dynamics, including emerging trends in the commercial real estate markets, which we are closely monitoring. We are committed to responding quickly and proactively to any signs of stress within the loan portfolio. In short, we believe we are well-positioned heading into 2024 to continue to deliver value for our shareholders, clients, employees, and the communities we serve.”