Blue Foundry Bancorp (NASDAQ:BLFY) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Kelly Pecoraro: Yes. I think we are very – we support buybacks. The Board and management believe that the purchase of our shares is a good investment. We were – if you think about where we were in the second quarter and the volume within the market, we were able to take advantage of that, the volume at that point. As we headed into Q3, we saw volumes kind of trend downward. Also, the timing of the transition from our first stock – our second stock repurchase plan to the third plan had some impact on our purchases this quarter.

Jim Nesci: So Justin, this is Jim. Good morning, again. But to reiterate what Kelly is saying, we are still a firm believer in share buyback that expect to be back in the marketplace in Q4 as we go in, so again, no news.

Justin Crowley: Okay. Understood and I appreciate it. I will leave it there.

Jim Nesci: Thanks Justin.

Kelly Pecoraro: Thank you, Justin.

Operator: Our next question comes from Chris O’Connell of KBW. Chris, please go ahead.

Chris O’Connell: Hi. Good morning. Just circling back on the loan growth discussion. So, I mean given where the pipelines are a bit lower than last quarter, I mean is it – does that imply that maybe for the next couple of quarters, net loan growth is kind of more of a flat line situation?

Kelly Pecoraro: I think it’s hard to tell, Chris, as we look at the market, the volume in the market, what we are looking to put on the balance sheet again, looking for those high-quality, higher-yielding assets. So, if it’s available and you have the funding as well, we are definitely looking to put loans on our balance sheet.

Jim Nesci: Just to again reiterate, it depends on the asset class. It depends on the price. So, those two go hand in glove, in my opinion. We are looking, we are actively looking, and we are building the pipeline. So, it’s hard to give you a specific number where we projected to be. We are looking in the marketplace and we do think there will be activity in the coming quarters.

Chris O’Connell: Okay. And what is – are the origination yields on the loan pipeline?

Kelly Pecoraro: The pipeline right now we have just under 8.5 from…

Chris O’Connell: Perfect. And as far as the next 12 months, how much in the dollar amount or the loans set to mature?

Jim Nesci: Give me half a second on that, and I will be able to get that for you.

Kelly Pecoraro: One moment, $25 million are set to mature, but we do have amortization of the portfolio each month is about $5 million to $7 million that’s coming in from an amortization perspective as well as the securities portfolio that’s amortizing down. And we have some pay-offs coming for maturities due in that book, probably about $12 million in the next quarter.

Chris O’Connell: Okay. Great. And as far as all the hedges that you guys have on the $259 million, can you remind us as to where each of those rates are locked in at?

Kelly Pecoraro: I think it’s a nice blend, Chris, as we put them on. Right now, we have our – the weighted average maturity is 3.4 years, and the weighted average rate of those hedges are below 3 years.

Chris O’Connell: Okay. And that’s being kind of applied against the FHLB advances in terms of like the yield table.

Kelly Pecoraro: Right. So, if we take a look at that, it does impact our interest expense. So, it’s offsetting interest expense on our financial statement.

Chris O’Connell: Okay. Great. And kind of putting it all together here, I mean do you guys have the September spot NIM, or any color as to how much NIM pressure you might see into the fourth quarter?

Kelly Pecoraro: So, we don’t normally share our spot NIM where we are at, but we do see some additional compression, but not at the pace we saw in the third quarter as the significant amount of our CDs had matured and went into those buckets. So, we don’t see that volume of activity in some of our maturing deposits.