Fulton Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:FULT) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Feddie Strickland: Just wanted to continue on that last question on office. I appreciate detail in the deck. But I see that there’s a $146 million located in the central business districts. Is that pretty evenly distributed across geographies or is it more Philly or D.C., or elsewhere? Just trying to get a sense of where — which central business district those might be in?

Curtis Myers: Yeah. Our largest is Philadelphia, and it’s not a lot of loans or, getting handy here, it’s seven loans, and Philly is the biggest portion. And then actually, the next biggest portion as we look at the distribution is spread throughout, and then D.C. and Baltimore would be less than half of what we have in Philadelphia. And again, those numbers overall are pretty granular. Philadelphia is 255 of that total. So none of those are a significant portion. It’s pretty diversified and spread out.

Feddie Strickland: Got it. That’s helpful. And switching gears for a second, it’s great to see credit relatively stable this quarter. Your net charge-offs were actually lower than what I had modeled. Can you talk about what you’re seeing in terms of trends in criticized and classified?

Curtis Myers: Yeah. So criticized and classified is moving up slightly. I think the number is about $77 million linked quarter. So not a significant move, but it is trending up a little. We are adding, so there’s generation there, and then there’s resolution as well. So we’re watching that very closely. When you look at the loans that are moving into criticized and classified, like they’re pretty diversified and granular around C&I, CRE. So we don’t see any specific thing in the migration that gives us concern about an any individual portfolio. It really comes down to the individual borrower being able to navigate or being in a position to handle the current economic environment.

Feddie Strickland: Got it. I appreciate the color. One last quick one. Forgive me if I missed this, but what was the balance of AOCI this quarter?

Curtis Myers: Let me see if we have that handy here quick. Sure, we do. You don’t have handy? We’ll follow up with you, Feddie, to give you that specific number. We don’t have the reconciliation right here in front of us.

Feddie Strickland: No problem. Thanks so much for taking my questions.

Curtis Myers: Sure.

Operator: One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Chris McGratty with KBW. Please proceed with your question.

Andrew Leischner: Hey. How is it going? This is Andrew Leischner on for Chris McGratty.

Curtis Myers: Good morning, Andrew.

Andrew Leischner: Hi. How is it going? So just on the NII guide, just wondering what assumptions you’re using for deposit mix and down beta on those rate cuts to get to your low and high end of the guide?

Betsy Chivinski: So on the deposit mix, we are assuming some continued decline in the percentage of non-interest-bearing deposits. We feel like we’ve been conservative in those projections relative to the longer-term history. The data on that is probably, I don’t want to quote that, but I think we’re going to see a relatively low beta on that just based on competition.

Curtis Myers: Yeah. We really see a stabilizing on the deposit as we get to CD rolls. As we look forward, the pressure of pricing up on CD rolls begins to — it’s not as significant, begins to stabilize. So I think there’s a lot of stabilizing forces as we kind of look forward. The biggest impact is going to be mix shift non-interest bearing to interest-bearing. And that is moderating but is continuing.

Andrew Leischner: Okay. Great. Thank you. And do you have the amount of CDs that are maturing this year and what those are rolling off that compared to what you’re offering today?

Betsy Chivinski: So through the end of this year, there’s probably about $1.9 billion, and that weighted average rate is — I have it for the next 12 months, I’m doing math in my head here, apologies. The weighted average rate is probably about a — roughly 440 (ph). I will tell you, on average, the rate over the past couple of months, we’re putting on new CDs at a weighted average rate of about 440 (ph). So as we get towards the end of the year, again, absent other changes, which we know they’ll be, those — we’re not going to really see an impact from those renewals or new CDs.

Curtis Myers: Yes. So we feel really good about how we’ve managed the duration in that book. And each month, as we move forward, we get again to that roll being a more stabilizing impact on the overall balance sheet.

Andrew Leischner: Got it. Thank you. I appreciate the quick math there. And then just last one, if I can. With that, you repurchased 1.9 million shares, you have 95 million remaining on the authorization. Are you still comfortable with the operating environment and your current capital levels to contemplate further buybacks? Thanks.

Curtis Myers: Yeah. Great question. And we continue to evaluate that. Our priority is to support organic growth, first. Second priority would be any corporate initiatives that we have that would require a capital, and then buybacks. So we would evaluate that environment, and we feel that, based on our capital levels, we could be active in our buyback throughout the remainder of the year, but we may not, depending on the situation. We have the authorization remaining for the 95 million. And if you look back over recent history, we’ve used that almost every quarter to some degree based on the environment that we see. But again, it is the last priority in our capital utilization.

Andrew Leischner: All right. Thanks for taking my questions. I’ll step back.

Curtis Myers: Thanks, Andrew.

Operator: One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from David Bishop with Hovde Group. Your line is open.

David Bishop: Yeah. Good morning.

Curtis Myers: Good morning, David.

David Bishop: Hey, Curt. A question circling back to the first, I know you sort of focused on the — maybe the expense side of the things. But are there revenue enhancements that could emanate from this project longer term?