Glacier Bancorp, Inc.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Glacier Bancorp fourth quarter earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you'll need to press star 1-1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Mr. Randy Chesler, President and Chief Executive Officer of Glacier Bancorp. Mr. Chesler, please begin. Ladies and gentlemen, please stand by. Mr. Chesler, you may begin. Ladies and gentlemen, please stand by. Again, ladies and gentlemen, please stand by. We are experiencing technical difficulties. Ladies and gentlemen, please stand by. Your conference will resume momentarily. Again, please stand by. Again, ladies and gentlemen, we are experiencing technical difficulties. Please stand by. Again, ladies and gentlemen, please remain on your line. Your conference will resume shortly. Again ladies and gentlemen, please remain on your line. Your conference will resume shortly. Mr. Chesler, you may begin.

All right. Thank you very much. Sorry for the technical difficulties. I think we're ready to go. So, good morning, and thank you for joining us today. With me here in Kalispell this morning is Ron Cofer, our Chief Financial Officer, Angela Dosey, our Chief Accounting Officer, Byron Pollin, our treasurer, Tom Dolan, our chief credit administrator, and Don Sherry, our chief administrative officer. I'd like to point out that the discussion today is subject to the same forward-looking considerations found on page 14 of our press release, and we encourage you to take a careful review of this section. We released our fourth quarter and full year 2023 earnings after the close of the market yesterday and the Glacier Bancorp team wrapped up a challenging year with a very strong quarter. We achieved earnings per share of 49 cents, which increased two cents per share from the prior quarter. Net income was 54.3 million for the current quarter, an increase of 1.9 million or 4% from the prior quarter. Interest income of $273 million in the current quarter increased $8.6 million or 3% over the prior quarter. Net interest margin on a tax equivalent basis was 2.56% versus 2.58% in the prior quarter, our smallest quarterly decrease this year. Total non-interest expense of $132 million for the current quarter, including a one-time $6 million FDIC special assessment, increased only 2.6 million, or 2%, over the prior quarter. The portfolio loan yield of 5.34% increased seven basis points from the prior quarter. New loan production yields were 8.24%, up 32 basis points from the last quarter. Non-performing assets to bank assets decreased 16.7 million, or 39% from the prior quarter to nine basis points of assets. Net charge-offs to total loans ended the year at only six basis points. Provision expense for the quarter was 3 million, which was stable compared to the prior quarter provision expense of $3.5 million. The allowance for credit losses as a percentage of total loans outstanding at year end was 1.19%, flat to the prior quarter and relatively unchanged compared to the 1.2% in the prior year fourth quarter. While the industry saw a significant outflow of deposits during the year, the company's core deposits and retail purchase agreements only decreased 108 million or 50 basis points from the prior year end. The company ended the year with $1.3 billion in cash, which was an increase of $952 million over the prior year end. Stockholders' equity of $3 billion increased $146 million for the quarter, or 5%, and increased $177 million, or 6%, over the prior year end. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.33 a share, and the company has declared 155 consecutive quarterly dividends and has increased the dividend 49 times. And We received all regulatory approvals for the acquisition of Wheatland Bank, a leading eastern Washington community bank headquartered in Spokane with total assets of $728 million as of the end of the year. This will be our 25th acquisition since 2000, and we will close the transaction on January 31st. We welcome the Wheatland team to Glacier Bancorp. Despite the significant volatility in the banking industry in 2023 with two of the largest bank failures in history depositors fear of bank safety and historic interest rate increases. The glacier team did an excellent job taking care of customers and communities across the West and ended 2023 well positioned for a strong 2024. So that ends my formal remarks, and I would now like Norma to open the line for any questions that our analysts may have.

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, you'll need to press star 11 on your telephone. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please wait for your name to be announced. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. One moment for our first question, please. Our first question comes from the line of Matthew Clark with Piper Sandler. Your line is now open.