Sierra Bancorp (BSRR) Reports Q1 EPS of $0.49

Sierra Bancorp (Nasdaq: BSRR), parent of Bank of the Sierra, today announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2022. Sierra Bancorp reported consolidated net income of $7.4 million, or $0.49 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2022 compared to $11.1 million, or $0.72 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2021. The unfavorable variance in net income came largely from a $3.8 million decrease in net interest income. The Company's return on average assets and return on average equity were 0.88% and 8.64%, respectively, in the first quarter of 2022 as compared to 1.40% and 12.94%, respectively, in the first quarter of 2021.

In April 2022, the Company opened its second loan production office in Templeton, California which demonstrates our investment in expanding our agricultural presence in the state. With the recent hire of Mark Pearce, we now have seven experienced relationship managers and a strong support team of underwriters, analysts, and other support focused on agricultural lending throughout California. While we have reduced exposure in the dairy industry, some of the areas of focus include winery and vineyard lending on the Central Coast and diversified farming operations in the Central Valley.

“Action is the foundational key to all success.” – Pablo Picasso

“Over the past few months, we have successfully added new agricultural, commercial real estate, and mortgage warehouse experts to our lending team,” stated Kevin McPhaill, President and CEO. “This has created a higher level of energy and excitement as we look to grow these segments of our loan portfolio. In addition to our new lenders, new loan opportunities have increased throughout our branches as our bankers diligently work with existing and new customers throughout our markets. We have also launched new deposit products and enhanced our treasury services as we look to add to our already strong deposit growth. While this year will have challenges, there will be opportunities as well. We are excited about our prospects and look forward to continued success this year!” McPhaill concluded.

Financial Highlights

Quarterly Changes (comparisons to the first quarter of 2021)

• The $3.8 million, or 13%, decrease in net interest income is due mostly to a $3.4 million decrease in interest income resulting primarily from lower loan volumes combined with lower rates. In addition, there was a $0.4 million unfavorable increase in interest expense due to the issuance of subordinated debt during the third quarter of 2021.
• The provision for credit losses on loans & leases at $0.6 million is $0.4 million higher as a result of higher charge-offs partially offset by a reduction in the pooled allowance under the new current expected credit losses (“CECL”) methodology implemented on January 1, 2022.
• All capital ratios were above the regulatory requirements for a well-capitalized institution. The Community Bank Leverage ratio was 11.65% for Bank of the Sierra. The Sierra Bancorp leverage ratio was 10.48%.
• Sierra Bancorp repurchased 182,562 shares totaling $4.9 million in the first quarter of 2022.
• Our Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $0.23 per share on April 21, 2022. This is the 93rd consecutive quarterly dividend paid by Sierra Bancorp. The cash dividend is payable on May 12, 2022 to shareholders of record at the close of business on May 2, 2022.

Linked Quarter Changes (comparisons to the three months ended December 31, 2021)

• Net income decreased by $2.2 million, or 23%, driven mostly by a $1.8 million decline in net interest income and a $0.6 million provision for credit losses compared to a $1.2 million provision reversal in the prior quarter.
• Noninterest expense decreased $2.0 million, or 9%, favorably impacting net income, mostly due to a decrease in professional fees.

Balance Sheet Changes (comparisons to December 31, 2021)

• Total assets were relatively unchanged at $3.4 billion.
• Deposits increased by $83.4 million, or 3%. The growth in deposits came primarily from noninterest bearing or low-cost transaction and savings accounts, while higher-cost time deposits decreased slightly.
• Gross loan balances were flat at $2.0 billion, however real estate secured loans increased $62.9 million, due mostly to high quality jumbo single family mortgage loan pool purchases. This increase was offset by a reduction in commercial and industrial loans of $22.6 million due predominately to Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program (“SBA PPP”) loan forgiveness. Other significant declines included a decrease in Mortgage Warehouse lines for $44.0 million due to reduced refinance activity.

Other financial highlights are reflected in the following table.

INCOME STATEMENT HIGHLIGHTS

Net Interest Income

Net interest income was $24.8 million for the first quarter of 2022, a decrease of $1.8 million, or 7%, as compared to the fourth quarter of 2021 and a decrease of $3.8 million, or 13%, as compared to the first quarter of 2021. As compared to the fourth quarter of 2021, overall loan interest income declined by $2.9 million, or 12%, due primarily to a $95.8 million decline in average loan balances, as well as by a 27 basis point decrease in loan yield. There was no change in the cost of interest bearing liabilities for the first three months of 2022 as compared to the prior linked quarter.

For the first quarter of 2022 as compared to the same quarter in 2021, average loan balances decreased $415.3 million, primarily in real estate loans, mortgage warehouse lines and SBA PPP loans contributing to the $5.6 million decrease in loan interest income. In addition, there was an unfavorable rate variance due to a 21 bps decrease in loan yield. While overall deposit costs declined in the first quarter of 2022 as compared to the same quarter in 2021, there was an 8 bps increase in the overall cost of interest bearing liabilities due to $50 million in subordinated debentures issued at 3.25% in September 2021.

At March 31, 2022, approximately 16% of the Bank’s loan portfolio is schedule to mature or reprice within twelve months with another 9% repricing within three years. In addition, approximately $347.3 million, or 34%, of the securities portfolio consists of floating rate bonds that will reprice in less than 90 days.

Interest expense was $1.3 million for the first quarter of 2022, relatively unchanged from the linked quarter, and an increase of $0.4 million, or 47% from the same period in 2021. The increase in the quarterly comparison is attributable to the issuance of subordinated debentures described above, as the interest expense on deposit accounts was primarily flat.

Our net interest margin was 3.21% for the first quarter of 2022, as compared to 3.31% for the linked quarter and 3.93% for the quarter ending March 31, 2021. Average overnight cash balances from increased liquidity due to deposit growth were $194.8 million in the first quarter of 2022 and $311.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, yielded an average rate of 19 and 15 bps respectively. The average balance of overnight cash was $76.5 million in the first quarter of 2021. The average balance of investment accounts increased $159.2 million for the first quarter of 2022 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2021 and increased $494.9 million over the same quarter in 2021. The yield on investment balances increased 6 bps for the first quarter of 2022 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2021 but declined 27 bps over the same quarter in 2021.

Provision for Credit Losses

The Company implemented the Current Expected Credit Loss ("CECL") accounting method under Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Update 2016-03 and related amendments, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326) on January 1, 2022. Upon implementation the Company recorded a $10.4 million increase in the allowance for credit losses, which included a $0.9 million reserve for unfunded commitments as an adjustment to equity, net of deferred taxes.

The Company recorded a provision for credit losses on loan and leases of $0.6 million in the first quarter of 2022, as compared to a benefit for loan and lease losses of $1.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, and a provision for loan and lease losses of $0.3 million in the first quarter of 2021. The higher provision for credit losses in the first quarter of 2022 over both the linked quarter and the same quarter in 2021, was primarily due to the impact of a $1.8 million in net charge-offs in the first quarter of 2022, partially offset by a decrease in the allowance for credit losses for loans evaluated on a pool basis. The increase in net charge-offs in the first quarter of 2022 was primarily related to a single loan relationship that defaulted in late March 2022 upon the discovery of new information. No additional allowance was booked for this loan individually evaluated for expected losses. The first quarter of 2022 decrease in the allowance for credit losses evaluated on a pooled basis was primarily due to a decline in the qualitative factors resulting from improvements in regional economic factors. The net benefit for loan losses in the fourth quarter of 2021 was due mostly to lower historical loan loss rates, a decline in outstanding balances on loans, and a change in the mix of loans.

The Company recorded a benefit for credit losses on unfunded commitments in the first quarter of 2022 for $0.1 million with no corresponding benefit or provision in the first quarter of 2021. The benefit for credit losses was due to a reduction in the reserve rate utilized in the calculation of the reserve as well as reductions in availability of credit lines.

The Company did not record a provision for credit losses on available-for-sale debt securities. Although there were debt securities in an unrealized loss position the declines in market values were primarily attributable to changes in interest rates and volatility in the financial markets and not a result of an expected credit loss.

Noninterest Income

Noninterest income decreased by $1.0 million, or 15%, to $6.1 million in the first quarter of 2022 as compared to $7.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. Noninterest income decreased by $0.8 million, or 11%, in the first quarter of 2022 as compared to the same quarter in 2021. The first quarter 2022 decrease of $1.0 million, compared to the fourth quarter of 2021, is primarily due to valuation decreases related to restricted equity investments for $0.3 million and BOLI fluctuations associated with deferred compensation plans for $0.9 million. In addition, there was a $1.0 million gain on sale of securities in the first quarter of 2022 as compared to $0.7 million in gains on sales of various assets in the fourth quarter of 2021.

In comparing the first quarter of 2022 to the same period in 2021, the reasons for the variances include a $1.2 million decrease in the change in the annual valuation change of restricted equity investments, as well as BOLI fluctuations associated with deferred compensation plans for $1.2 million. These negative variances were partially offset by a $1.0 million gain on the sale of investment securities in an effort to rebalance the portfolio by selling longer duration and higher price volatility securities as a hedge against rising interest rates, due to likely persistent inflationary pressures in the near-intermediate term environment.

Service charges on customer deposit account income declined by $0.1 million, or 4%, to $3.0 million in the first quarter of 2022 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2021. This same income was $0.3 million higher in the first quarter of 2022 as compared to the first quarter of 2021 due to higher returned check charges and overdraft fees.

Noninterest Expense

Total noninterest expense had a favorable decline of $2.0 million, or 9%, in the first quarter of 2022 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2021 and decreased $0.1 million compared to the first quarter of 2021.

Salaries and benefits were $1.6 million higher in the first quarter of 2022 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2021 and $0.7 million higher than the first quarter of 2021. The increase in the linked quarter and year-over-year quarterly comparison is due to several factors, including merit increases for employees due to annual performance evaluations during the first quarter of 2022, higher payroll taxes in the first quarter, the strategic hiring of lending and management staff, and the impact of a favorable bonus adjustment in the fourth quarter of 2021. Overall full-time equivalent employees were 484 at March 31, 2022 as compared to 480 at December 31, 2021 and 508 at March 31, 2021.

Occupancy expense was down $0.1 million for the linked quarters and $0.2 million lower for the first quarter of 2022 as compared to the same quarter last year. We closed five branch facilities in the second quarter of 2021 which impacted the decrease for the year-over-year quarterly comparison.

Other noninterest expense decreased $3.5 million, or 37%, in the first quarter of 2022 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2021 and was $0.6 million, or 8% lower than the first quarter of 2021. The primary reason for the decrease in both the linked quarters and the year-over-year quarterly comparison was lower professional services expense, primarily due to lower legal fees.

The Company's effective tax rate was 27.0% in the first quarter of 2022 relative to 24.2% in the fourth quarter of 2021 and 25.5% for the first quarter of 2021. The increase in the effective tax rate for the first quarter of 2022 is due to tax credits and tax-exempt income representing a smaller percentage of total taxable income.

Balance Sheet Summary

The $47.8 million, or 1% increase in total assets during the first quarter of 2022, is primarily a result of a $51.7 million increase in investment securities, due mostly to the purchase of collateralized loan obligations.

Gross loan balances remained relatively flat during the first quarter of 2022 with an overall 0.3% change. The net change did have some offsetting components with the larger fluctuations being a $44.0 million decline in mortgage warehouse line utilization, a $25.8 million decrease in non-owner occupied commercial real estate, and a $16.8 million decrease in PPP loans. These declines were mostly offset by a $109.4 million increase in 1-4 family mortgage loans due to purchases of high-quality jumbo mortgage loans. The Company’s regulatory commercial real estate concentration ratio decreased to 234% at March 31, 2022 as compared to 248% at December 31, 2021.

Regarding line utilization, unused commitments, excluding mortgage warehouse and consumer overdraft lines, were $224.4 million at March 31, 2022, compared to $242.3 million at December 31, 2021. Total utilization excluding mortgage warehouse and consumer overdraft lines was 61% at March 31, 2022, compared to 61% at December 31, 2021. Mortgage warehouse utilization was 16% at March 31, 2022, as compared to 28% at December 31, 2021.

As expected, PPP loans continue to decline as borrowers receive forgiveness on these loans. There were 160 loans for $15.0 million outstanding at March 31, 2022, compared to 438 loans for $31.8 million at December 31, 2021.

In addition to an expanded investment in agricultural lending with the recent opening of our Templeton loan production office, as described above, the real estate and mortgage warehouse teams are experiencing a build-up of existing pipelines and the boarding of new customer relationships.

Deposit balances grew by $83.4 million, or 3%, during the first quarter of 2022 to $2.9 billion at March 31, 2022. Core non-maturity deposits increased $83.6 million, or 3%, for the first three months of 2022, while customer time deposits declined by $0.2 million. There was no change in brokered deposits during the quarter. Overall noninterest-bearing deposits as a percent of total deposits decreased slightly to 38.6% at March 31, 2022, compared to 39.0% at December 31, 2021, and increased from 35.8% at March 31, 2021. Other interest-bearing liabilities of $192.3 million at March 31, 2022, include $107.8 million of customer repurchase agreements, $49.2 million in subordinated debt, and $35.3 million in trust preferred securities.

The Company continues to have substantial liquidity. At March 31, 2022, and December 31, 2021, the Company had the following sources of primary and secondary liquidity (dollars in thousands):

Total capital of $325.7 million at March 31, 2022, reflects a decrease of $36.8 million, or 10%, compared to December 31, 2021. The decrease in equity during the first quarter of 2022 is due to net income of $7.4 million, offset by a $3.5 million dividend paid to shareholders, $4.9 million in share repurchases and a $28.9 million unfavorable swing in other comprehensive income/loss due principally to changes in investment securities' fair value. The remaining difference is related to stock options exercised and restricted stock compensation recognized during the quarter.

Asset Quality

Total nonperforming assets, comprised of non-accrual loans and foreclosed assets, increased by $25.9 million, during the first quarter of 2022. The increase resulted from an increase in non-accrual loans, primarily as a result of one relationship in the dairy industry consisting of four separate loans. These loans were written down by $1.96 million in the first quarter of 2022 and no further allowance for credit losses was deemed necessary on these loans. The Company's ratio of nonperforming assets to loans plus foreclosed assets increased to 1.54% at March 31, 2022, from 0.23% at December 31, 2021 due primarily to the loan relationship downgrade previously mentioned. All the Company's nonperforming assets are individually evaluated for credit loss quarterly and management believes the established allowance for credit loss on such loans are appropriate.

The Company's allowance for credit losses on loans and leases was $22.5 million at March 31, 2022, as compared to $14.3 million at December 31, 2021, and $18.3 million at March 31, 2021. The $8.3 million increase in the allowance for credit losses on loan and leases during the first quarter of 2022 is due to a $9.5 million one-time adjustment from the implementation of CECL on January 1, 2022, a $0.6 million provision for credit losses on loan and leases, and net loan charge-offs of $1.8 million.

The allowance was 1.14% of total loans at March 31, 2022, 0.72% of total loans at December 31, 2021, and 0.80% of total loans at March 31, 2021. Management's detailed analysis indicates that the Company's allowance for credit losses on loan and leases should be sufficient to cover credit losses for the life of the loan and leases outstanding as of March 31, 2022, but no assurance can be given that the Company will not experience substantial future losses relative to the size of the loan and lease loss allowance.

The Company provided loan modification deferrals to customers under Section 4013 of the CARES Act, which were not treated as troubled debt restructured loans. As of March 31, 2022 there are no loans remaining on deferred status.

About Sierra Bancorp

Sierra Bancorp is the holding Company for Bank of the Sierra (www.bankofthesierra.com), which is in its 45th year of operations and is the largest independent bank headquartered in the South San Joaquin Valley. Bank of the Sierra is a community-centric regional bank, which offers a broad range of retail and commercial banking services through full-service branches located within the counties of Tulare, Kern, Kings, Fresno, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara. The Bank also maintains an online branch and provides specialized lending services through an agricultural credit center in Templeton, California, an SBA center, and a dedicated loan production office in Roseville, California. In 2022, Bank of the Sierra was recognized as one of the strongest and top-performing community banks in the country, with a 5-star rating from Bauer Financial.

Forward-Looking Statements

The statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements based on management's current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on the Company. Readers are cautioned not to unduly rely on forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ from those projected. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including but not limited to our borrowers' actual payment performance as loan deferrals related to the COVID-19 pandemic expire, changes to statutes, regulations, or regulatory policies or practices as a result of, or in response to COVID-19, including the potential adverse impact of loan modifications and payment deferrals implemented consistent with recent regulatory guidance, the health of the national and local economies, the impacts of inflation, the Company's ability to attract and retain skilled employees, customers' service expectations, the Company's ability to successfully deploy new technology, the success of acquisitions and branch expansion, closure or consolidation, changes in interest rates, loan portfolio performance, and other factors detailed in the Company's SEC filings, including the "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" sections of the Company's most recent Form 10‑K and Form 10‑Q.