Bridge Bancorp 4Q net income up 23%
Bridgehampton National Bank on Main Street in Patchogue. Credit: Erin Geismar
Bridge Bancorp Inc., the publicly traded corporate parent of Bridgehampton National Bank, said its net income rose by 23 percent in last year's final quarter over the year-earlier period.
The banking unit operates 20 branches, all in Suffolk County.
Bridge said net income for the fourth quarter was a record $3 million, or 42 cents a share.
Net interest margin, the difference between the interest a bank earns on its assets such as loans and investments and what it pays out to depositors, was 3.97 percent. That was down from 4.22 percent a year earlier, Bridge said.
The quarter included a $24.7-million common stock issue, and the year included Bridge's first acquisition, in May, of Hamptons State Bank.
The corporation had total assets of $1.34 billion at year end, up 30 percent from a year earlier, in part because of the acquisition.
In a statement, Kevin M. O'Connor, president and chief executive, said, "The current banking environment remains challenging in many respects." The low level of interest rates "creates issues for margin management and heightened risks to the eventuality of higher rates."
Bridge's shares closed Tuesday at $19.70 a share, down one cent.
