Huntington reports $152 million in Q1 profits

Staff report

Youngstown

Huntington National Bank reported a first-quarter profit of $151.8 million, or 17 cents per share, Wednesday.

First-quarter profit decreased by $1.5 million, or 1 percent, from a year ago and 9 percent from the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, the bank approved a 25 percent increase on the quarterly cash dividend of its common stock, declaring 5 cents per common share payable July 1 to shareholders of record June 17.

Huntington also will repurchase up to $227 million worth of common stock.

Though the bank witnessed a 4 percent growth rate in average total loans and a 5 percent growth rate in average core deposits during the first quarter, the return on its assets decreased by 1.13 percent from a year earlier.

The company reported $682.3 million in revenue — a 3 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2012.

Commercial real-estate loans were down by 10 percent, and residential mortgages also decreased by 4 percent — a pattern being seen across the industry this quarter with fewer refinancing deals being cut and mortgage originations down after a period of strong demand driven by low interest rates.

Automobile loans, however, increased at Huntington, and loan losses decreased by 38 percent as banks nationwide continue to shore up their books with consumer debt declining.