Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:GNTY) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Ty Abston: Graham, this is Ty. So, yes, we think that is sustainable. I mean, the reality is the first-half of the year, we were raising rates weekly. And so — but we haven’t raised rates in the last few weeks and just the velocity of increase, we’ve been playing catch up on repricing the balance sheet. But as rates, we’re anticipating rates to stay level. If rates do stay level from here, and we’re not having to raise rates, then we’re repricing the asset side of the balance sheet pretty fast. And we continue to have a pretty short duration loan portfolio. So at that rate, which we think is pretty consistent and will be consistent going forward, we will catch up on our NIM pretty quickly. We’re being conservative and not projecting that, because who knows what lays in front of us, but we do think we do have less of headwinds related to our net interest margin for sure going forward.

Graham Dick: Okay, that’s helpful. And then just specifically on the time deposit piece. Can you talk about what your appetite is for that, kind of, funding going forward and also what the cost of those new time deposits were this quarter? And maybe how you’d like to manage the loan to deposit ratio from here? Obviously, if loan growth is going to be muted, maybe you don’t need a bunch of, you know, a bunch more time deposits, I guess. I’m just wondering guys, how you guys are thinking about that? And how might play into your funding strategy over the next, you know, several months?

Ty Abston: Yes, we’re in the middle of the road as far as our rates on time deposits and the marginal — our marginal cost of time deposit right now is around 5% I believe, 5%, 10% maybe. And that, I mean, that mix is, as Cappy and Shalene talked about, has a lot to do with the fact that, you know, our customers are moving money out of transaction accounts into time deposits, which makes sense, because we’re yield now. So we’re seeing some of that and that definitely has slowed, but we’re continuing to see some of that migration of our deposits. As far as our goal of loan to deposit ratio has always been around 90% bogey, as far as the max and we’re comfortable below that. My guess is we will be in the mid-80s during the year.

We continue as part of our model to focus on retail banking core deposits. That’s what we did two years ago, three years ago, and what we’re doing today. So as we continue to build core deposits and the loan side is more muted, then we’re going to probably lowering our loan deposit ratio throughout the year, which we’re comfortable with, because that gives us plenty of funding as the economy turns to start lending more aggressively as things turn around. We are adding duration to the bond portfolio each month in small increments, but we think now is a good time to add some duration. So we’re taking $5 million to $7 million or so of cash flow and adding a little duration to the bond portfolio and have really all year long.

Graham Dick: Okay, that’s really helpful. And I totally understand the pull forward of growth here for what could be a pretty strong economy in Texas over the next, you know, the long-term. And I guess the lastly on the NIM would be just how you guys are thinking about, I guess, your non-interest bearing deposit levels, I know Shalene said mid to high-20s? How are you modeling that? Like what’s the cadence of that drawdown from here? If it’s at 34% today, I mean, are we talking 30% by the beginning of 2024? Or what’s it look like on your [Indiscernible] end?

Cappy Payne: I think 30% Graham is really what we’re modeling. I think it could go to high-20s probably — possibly, but 30% what we’re modeling.

Graham Dick: Okay, great. Got it, thank you guys that’s all for me today.

Ty Abston: Thank you, Graham.

Operator: Our next question will be from Brady Gailey with KBW. Brady can you unmute?

Brady Gailey: Yes. Good morning, guys.

Ty Abston: Good morning, Brady.

Cappy Payne: Good morning, Brady.