Peoples Bancorp Inc. Aktie

Thank you. Good morning and welcome to Peoples Bancorp Inc.'s conference call. My name is Gary and I will be your conference facilitator. Today's call will cover a discussion of the results of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026. [Operator Instructions]

This call is also being recorded. If you object to the recording, please disconnect at this time. Please be advised that the commentary in this call will contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding PPG's future financial performance or future events. These statements are based on management's current expectations. The statements in this call, which are not historical fact, are forward-looking statements and involve a number of risks and uncertainties detailed in Peoples' Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The management believes the forward-looking statements made during this call are based on reasonable assumptions within the bounds of their knowledge of Peoples' business and operations. However, it is possible actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements.

Peoples disclaims any responsibility to update these forward-looking statements after this call, except as may be required by applicable legal requirements. Peoples' third quarter 2026 earnings release and earnings conference call presentation were issued this morning and are available at peoplesbankcorp.com under Investor Relations. A reconciliation of the non-generally accepted accounting principles or GAAP financial measures discussed during this call to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is included at the end of the earnings release. This call will include about 15 to 20 minutes of prepared commentary, followed by a question and answer period, which I will facilitate. An archived webcast of this call will be available on peoplesbankcorp.com in the Investor Relations section for one year. Participants in today's call will be Tyler Wilcox, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Kathryn Bailey, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, and each will be available for questions following opening statements. Mr. Wilcox, you may begin your conference.

Thank you, Gary. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call today. Activity levels at Peoples are high as we focus on a number of strategic priorities, working to close the Citizens merger at the end of this month. We also recently announced the pending acquisition of Capital Bank Corp, which we expect to close in 2027. We are excited about these strategic initiatives and the opportunity to enhance our capabilities, products, services, and company performance as a result of investments. Focusing on the present, we continue to be pleased with our consistent and high-performing core results as reflected in our third quarter 2026 earnings, which we released earlier this morning. For the third quarter, we reported diluted earnings per share of $0.91. When adjusted for one-time items, our diluted EPS for the quarter was $1.04, which exceeded consensus analysts' estimates of $0.93.

Our one-time items for the quarter included a $4.5 million loss on investment securities, which reduced diluted EPS by ¢10. This was part of our planned effort to remain below $10 billion in assets with the pending Citizens merger and acquisition-related expenses of $1.5 million, which reduced our diluted EPS by 3 cents. Some of our highlights for the third quarter include improvements in our net interest income, which was up 1%, expansion in our net interest margin of eight basis points, growth in our fee-based income of 5%, provision for credit losses declined 24%, improvement in our efficiency ratio adjusted for one-time items, higher return on average assets, which was 1.36%, increased return on average stockholders' equity of 10.44%, declines of 11% in our non-performing growth in our lower-cost interest-bearing demand deposit and money market accounts of nearly $100 million combined, and improved regulatory capital ratios. Our provision for credit losses declined to $3.6 million, a 24% reduction compared to the second quarter.

Our allowance for credit losses to total loans was 1.11%, a three basis point decrease compared to June 30th. The reduction in our provision for credit losses for the quarter was due to declines in reserves for individually analyzed loans, coupled with updates to our prepayment, curtailment, and funding rates, partially offset by higher net charge-offs. Our annualized quarterly net charge-off rate grew to 35 basis points compared to 31 basis points for the linked quarter. For the third quarter, we had higher commercial and industrial loan charge-offs, along with increases in commercial real estate and consumer indirect loan charge-offs. At the same time, we had a reduction of 25% in our lease charge-offs. As anticipated, our small ticket lease charge-offs have declined throughout 2026. We remain committed to our small-ticket leasing business, and see a return to growth coming throughout the year in 2027 with a focus on appropriate risk-adjusted returns and minimized volatility. For the third quarter, our non-performing loans declined $4 million, or 11%, compared to the linked quarter end, which was driven by lower non-accrual loans.

Indexed loans decreased $18 million, while classified loans grew $30 million. For the third quarter, we had downgrades of two commercial real estate relationships and one commercial and industrial relationship, which drove the increase. We do not anticipate significant losses as we are in the process of exiting these credits. We expect an increase in our Criticized and Classified Loan balances during the fourth quarter as we onboard the loan portfolio from the Citizens Merger. Our delinquency levels continue to improve with 99.2% of our loan portfolio considered current at September 30th compared to 99.1% at the linked quarter end. Moving on to loan balances, we had increases of $19 million or 1% annualized compared to June 30th. We mentioned on our last quarterly earnings call that we had expected payoffs later in the year that would be a headwind for loan growth, and we realized some of that this quarter with commercial payoffs of over $160 million.

We have also been selective with our lending activity, as we are strategically managing under the $10 billion mark through year-end. Most of our increases in balances was in construction loans, which were up $40 million, while commercial and industrial loans and home equity lines of credit grew $34 million and $10 million, respectively. We had reductions of $38 million in our commercial real estate loans, which were due to the aforementioned payoffs, while residential real estate loans declined $14 million and leases were down $12 million. For the fourth quarter, the Citizens merger is expected to add nearly $350 million of loans before purchase accounting adjustments. I will now turn the call over to Kathryn for a discussion of our financial performance.

Thanks, Tyler. Our net interest income grew 1% or $1.1 million, while our net interest margin improved 8 basis points. Increased investment in loan yields contributed to the higher margin, while net interest income benefited from higher loan income. Accretion income totaled $1 million compared to $1.1 million for the linked quarter, contributing four basis points and five basis points to net interest margin, respectively. For the first nine months of 2026, net interest income improved 5% or $12.8 million. Net interest margin expanded eight basis points over the same period and was mostly attributable to our lower deposit costs. Our interest expense on deposits declined nearly $19 million compared to the first nine months of 2025. Accretion income totaled $3.4 million compared to $7.8 million for 2025, five basis points and 12 basis points to net interest margin, respectively.

As it relates to our interest rate exposure, we are relatively neutral to slightly asset sensitive. We have been in this position for several quarters and the two pending mergers will not have a meaningful impact on our overall interest rate risk position. Moving on to our fee-based income, we had growth of 5% compared to the linked quarter, driven by higher lease income, as well as increases in deposit account service charges, trust and investment income, and bank-owned life insurance income. For the first nine months of 2026, fee-based income grew 8%. The improvement was mostly due to increased lease income, trust and investment income, and deposit account service charges. Our non-interest expenses were up 2% compared to the linked quarter. This included $1.5 million of acquisition-related expenses, which were largely professional fees.

Excluding these expenses, non-interest expenses were flat compared to the second quarter. For the first nine months of 2026, non-interest expenses were up 4%. This included $1.9 million of acquisition-related expenses, which was the primary driver of our higher professional fees. Salaries and employee benefits also contributed to the growth, along with operating lease expense, which corresponds to our fee-based lease income. Our reported efficiency ratio was 58.5% for the third quarter, an increase compared to 58.3% for the linked quarter. Excluding acquisition-related expenses, our adjusted efficiency ratio was 57.3% for the third quarter compared to 57.9% for the second quarter. For the first nine months of 2026, our reported efficiency ratio was 58.5% compared to 59% for the prior year and was driven by higher revenue.

Excluding acquisition-related expenses, our adjusted efficiency ratio was 57.9% for 2026 compared to 59% for 2025. Looking at our balance sheet, our investment portfolio as a percent of total assets declined to 18.3% at quarter end compared to 19.1% at June 30th. We completed another sale of securities as part of our investment portfolio restructuring related to the Citizens Merger, which resulted in a $4.5 million loss for the quarter on the sale of approximately $59 million of securities. In addition to providing flexibility to remain under $10 billion, this will also improve the yield on our investment portfolio. Our loan-to-deposit ratio grew at quarter end to 91.9% compared to 91.5% at the linked quarter end, mostly due to lower deposits and some loan growth for the third quarter. Our core deposit balances, which excludes brokered CDs, were up $19 million compared to June 30th. We had significant increases in our interest-bearing demand and money market accounts, which were up $52 million and $46 million respectively.

These increases were partially offset by reductions of $44 million in retail CDs and $34 million in non-interest-bearing accounts. Our demand deposits as a percent of total deposits was flat at 36% for both September 30th and June 30th. Our non-interest-bearing deposits to total deposits ratio was unchanged at 21% at quarter end and at June 30th. The Citizens Merger is expected to add approximately $550 million of deposits for the fourth quarter of 2026. As far as our capital levels, all of our regulatory capital ratios improved compared to the linked quarter end as earnings outpaced dividends. Our tangible equity to tangible asset ratio declined this quarter and was negatively impacted by increased unrealized losses on our available for sale investment portfolio. I will now turn the call back over to Tyler for his closing comments.

Thank you, Kathryn. We are focusing on successfully closing the Citizens merger this month, while also prioritizing our work on the pending Capital merger. These mergers will set the stage for our future strategic growth, including expanded market areas within our footprint, through financial metrics such as higher net interest margin and lower efficiency ratio, and the ability for our associates to have more meaningful conversations with existing and new clients about the diversified products and services we provide. For the fourth quarter and full year of 2026, we have the following performance expectations, excluding the impact of non-core expenses, but including our Citizens merger. We expect to achieve positive operating leverage for 2026 compared to 2025. We anticipate our net interest margin will be between 4.2% and 4.3% for the full year of 2026. We believe our quarterly fee-based income will range between $28 million and $30 million. We expect quarterly total non-interest expense to be between $78 million and $80 million.

We believe loan growth will be between 6% to 8% for 2026 compared to 2025, which includes the acquired loans from Citizens. We continue to anticipate a reduction in our net charge-offs for 2026 compared to 2025, which we expect to continue to positively impact provision for credit losses, excluding any changes in the economic forecasts. We expect between $11 million and $13 million of acquisition-related expenses during the fourth quarter for the Citizens Merger. We would also like to provide some high-level expectations for 2027, excluding the impact of non-core expenses and the planned Capital merger. We expect to achieve positive operating leverage for 2027 compared to 2026. For the full year of 2027, we anticipate our net interest margin will be between 4.3% and 4.5%. This assumes a 25 basis point increase in rates from the Federal Reserve in late 2026, one in March 2027, and another in September of 2027.

We believe our quarterly fee-based income will range between $31 million and $33 million. Our first quarter fee-based income is typically elevated, as it includes annual performance-based insurance commissions. We expect quarterly total non-interest expense to be between $80 million and $82 million for the second, third, and fourth quarters of 2027, with the first quarter of 2027 being higher due to the annual expenses we typically recognize during the first quarter of each year. We believe our loan growth will be between 3% and 5% compared to 2026, which is dependent on the timing of paydowns on our portfolio. We anticipate similar charge-offs and net charge-off rate for 2027 compared to 2026, which includes projected increases related to the addition of the Citizens portfolio. We look to have a strong close to our 2026 performance and continue to be optimistic about our strategic plans and ability to execute on the pending mergers and future growth. Laying out a path beyond the $10 billion threshold is the culmination of years of strategic planning and patience.

The investments we have made in people, technology, and infrastructure are in place today and operating as if we have already crossed that milestone. We have proven our ability to provide reliable results for our shareholders and improve performance both organically and through acquisitions. We will continue to place importance on the value we provide as an investment to our shareholders and the return that we produce. We will focus on being a top-notch employer and sharing our culture with our new associates from our mergers. We will make meaningful investments in the communities we serve and provide high-quality, trusted solutions for all of our clients. That concludes our commentary and we will open the call for questions. Once again, this is Tyler Wilcox and joining me for the Q&A session is Kathryn Bailey, our Chief Financial Officer.

I will now turn the call back into the hands of our call facilitator.

We will now begin the question and answer session. [Operator Instructions] The first question today is from Ryan Payne with DA-Davidson. Please go ahead.

Good morning. This is Ryan Payne on for Jeff Roulis today. I heard you on the expected Citizens close later this month. Any update on close timing for Capital next year?

Yes, our expectation is sometime very end of first quarter, beginning of second quarter.

Got it. And on the security sale, some more detail on that. What was the timing of that during the quarter, the yield on those securities, and as well as the expected impact on NIM going forward?

Yes, so it happened in August, and the yield on the amount we sold was about 1.5%. And the impact to margin on a go-forward, I think was the third part of your question. I think we expect a slight increase of a few basis points.

Last for me, Durbin impact, we last heard an $11 million annual hit to those fees beginning July 2028. Just wanted to confirm that or if anything has changed there.

No, that's still the number. And again, as a reminder that we noted in the capital announcement that they have minimal impact to our Durbin into interchange income. So the number has not really changed. Understood.

Thanks, guys.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ryan.

The next question is from Tim DeLacy with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning, Tyler. Good morning, Kathryn. Just filling in for Danny this morning. Hey, Tyler, maybe starting off on loan growth, you know, growth is obviously relatively modest this quarter. You kind of laid out some of the factors that played in there and kind of laid out the 3% to 5% target for next year. You know, just curious how the commercial pipelines are looking today, you know, where you're seeing the drivers of growth coming from in the near term, whether you're expecting some of those payoff headwinds to start easing as we move into '27 here.

Thanks for the question. My hope is, yes, we will see some of that easing. Let me lay out a few thoughts for you as to demand. This was actually our third highest quarter ever of commercial production, and I really like the kind of mixed shift into CNI that we've seen throughout the year. And so demand remains really positive. For reference, we expected this year about $480 million in payoffs. Through three quarters, we've seen about $460 million in payoffs. The vast majority of that, about 40%, is via sales of primarily multifamily projects, which says that there's a high demand for the high-quality stuff that our folks are producing.

And for the remainder of the year, there's probably about $150 million to $180 million of expected, forecasted, payoffs and whether that materializes in the fourth quarter or materializes kind of or pushes into the first quarter is one of the main questions weighing on that loan growth for the forward guidance. So did I miss anything in your question there?

No, no, no, that was very helpful, Tyler. I appreciate that. And maybe, Kathryn, just flipping over to the margin, we appreciate the guidance for 2027. With the rate increases that you guys are assuming for next year, just curious about how you're thinking about what we should expect for betas on the deposit side. That should be factored into the 2027 guide.

Yes, non-interest or non-maturity beta is inclusive of non-interest bearing is about 30%.

Okay, appreciate that. And then maybe just finishing up, you know, just Tyler, maybe one on credit, you know, outside of the few relationships you highlight in the presentations, you know, are you seeing any meaningful changes in credit trends across the broader commercial portfolio or, you know, any particular areas you're keeping your eye on more closely with the recent move in rates?

No, not so far. Thankfully, commercial credit remains very strong. Last quarter, we were talking about the slight increase in criticize. That's come down. Now we see the slight increase in classified. As we guided, we expect those to pay off and exit the bank with minimal loss. So the core commercial credit remains incredibly strong. The significant reduction in the small ticket leasing is also, you know, extremely positive. I would say the one area where we've seen a slight increase in delinquency on the indirect portfolio, as I think you mentioned, I think there's some pressure on consumers in that area, which is also weighing on the production with interest rates and fuel prices increasing.

So that is an area where we're watching, but we continue to, you know, generate, um, you know, that, uh, production that, you know, near 750 credit scores consistent with our past practices. So very cautiously optimistic on credit overall, and particularly in the commercial space.

Okay. Well, that's terrific, Tyler. Guys, I'll step back. Thank you.

The next question is from Nathan Reyes with Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning. This is Adam Kroll on for Nate. Good morning, Tyler and Kathryn. And thanks for taking my questions. Maybe for Tyler to start, I know the loan growth guide excludes capital, but they've historically been a pretty high growth franchise. So I guess I'd be curious, you know, is there any transition period after the deal closes, where maybe growth is a little softer, or just any color there.

Thanks. I would say as the capital, one of the most exciting things to me is the level of mutual engagement that we have with the capital team and the capital leadership particularly. And a big part of that is obviously the continuity for their bankers, their clients, and, you know, their entire organization of our intent to, you know, continue the things that they're doing that made them attractive purchase in the first place. So I don't anticipate any kind of trough because the, you know, the lead-in of the next, you know, four, five, six months of engagement together. That includes our bankers, our credit staff, their leadership, their bankers, and their clients is, you know, mutually committed to continuing what it is they do. So we do expect that, you know, they're historically higher growth rates than ours, are something that we can perpetuate and is part of what makes the deal appealing.

Got it. I appreciate the call there. And, Tyler, I think you, on the last call you mentioned, uh, small ticket leasing could potentially begin to grow again in '27. Is that still the case? And, um, is any of that contemplated in the loan growth guide that you gave?

It is. It's baked in as part of our forecast and we do believe it will grow. Now it's not going to grow at double digits and the growth I think will be more heavily weighted to the second half of the year, you know, growing off of the now $100 million portfolio. But we have the right sales. We have the right leadership and we have the right credit box now that we've tested out to ensure that we grow in a positive way that we think can really impact and let it start punching above its weight again, which is the reason why we are excited about the future of that business.

Got it. Maybe one last one from me. Kathryn, I'd be curious to hear how we should think about provisioning in 2027, just given the likely step up in the reserve with the capital deal, and just maybe longer term where you see the reserve kind of settling out.

Yes, I mean, I think, to your point, I think the last couple quarters have been pretty nice from a provision perspective. I expect we get elevated from here. I think the coverage ratio, which is how I call it, the allowance to total loans, right now we're at 1.11%. I think we'll stay in that range, go up to maybe 1.2% over time with capital coming on board. That's where I would see us progress. Again, Citizens won't have any material impact to that ratio, but capital when it comes on board will help stabilize that.

Got it. Thanks for taking my questions.

No problem.

Thanks.

Thank you.

The next question is from Brendan Nosal with Hovde. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning folks. Thanks for taking the questions.

Hey, no problem, Brendan.

Maybe starting off here, just kind of on prepping the balance sheet for year end, are there any other security sales that need to take place to stay under $10 billion? And I think you initially were contemplating like $300 million.

Well, as we articulated with the Citizens acquisition closing here later this month, we will sell a majority of their portfolio at close or very near to close. As it relates to any more of our portfolio that we will sell, that will just be dependent on how we transition through the remainder of the year where we are from an asset size. We might take another $2 million to $3 million loss in the fourth quarter, but we'll just continue to evaluate the market and evaluate our asset size as we proceed through the remainder of the fourth quarter.

Yes, okay. That's perfect. Then maybe turning to the margin, can you just narrow down kind of the NIM that you're expecting to see next quarter? There's a lot of moving pieces with kind of movement in both your and Citizens' securities books and then their impact on both the core margin and, you know, fair value market creation.

Yes, so I think in the next quarter we could see, you know, I'm going to project somewhere in the 8 to 10 basis point lift with the addition of Citizens, given the securities restructure we just talked about, their portfolio, and then just the deposit franchise, that it makes that organization very attractive.

Okay. All right. Awesome. Thanks, Kathryn. Moving on, on a kind of related note. Just thinking about your rate positioning, I think back to last quarter, I think you folks said that each 25 basis point hike was six to eight basis points of margin improvement. That reads to me as being fairly asset sensitive, but it kind of sounds like now you're more neutral to only slightly asset sensitive. So I'm wondering what changed over the past couple of months.

Yes, I think that number, I mean it ebbs and flows with each rate increase. It varies a little bit, but I think that 25 basis points now, I think we would quantify be about five basis points of benefit to us. And so I think it's... I mean, we could debate whether that's significantly asset sensitive or slightly, but that's where the new number is.

Yes, yes, okay. That's fair and also helpful. Okay, thanks for taking my questions.

Thank you.

Thank you. The next question is from Matthew Brees with Stephens. Please go ahead.

Good morning.

Good morning, Matt.

You know, just thinking about your loan growth guide for next year, could you give us some idea on what it contemplates for commercial real estate and leasing growth? And if it does include positive growth from those segments, what type of growth are you anticipating?

Yeah, I think overall commercial growth is about 5% or so as one of the main drivers. The leasing overall growth is probably about 6% to 7%. The kind of drag on the loan growth is going to be, you know, kind of coming from our expectations on the consumer book in a rising rate environment. You know, we're not seeing the refi business on the residential indirect has slowed down a bit. And so that's kind of the outlook on those pieces. I will say the growth as well in commercial is probably a little bit more weighted to the CNI as opposed to the CRE, still still good CRE growth.

Okay. So you do anticipate positive commercial real estate growth next year?

We do. Okay. It is a bit of running on a treadmill, as I noted, because of the heavily weighting to the sales and the payoffs in that space particularly.

Yep. And then Kathryn, just thinking about the '27 NIM guide, but including capital, you know, if I go back to the deal deck, I think it suggested a 5% NIM or higher. Could you talk about that in the context of the updated '27 NIM guide on the standalone and whether or not that 5% still holds and what would put you at the upper versus the lower end?

Well, I think with it not being in, capital not closing until probably, let's say, early in the second quarter or end of the first quarter, we won't have the benefit of that in the first quarter. So the full year guide with that, with capital in next year, I don't think we would get to the 5%. I think once they are in our numbers on a quarterly basis, I think we will approach five, be at five or slightly around the 5% rate that we previously quoted. Full year, I don't think we will get to five in 2027. Correct.

Right, but you'll be in and around 5% with them and beyond. Fair enough. Okay. I hate to pick pile on the $10 billion question, but you do have some excess cash at the end of the quarter as well. I'm curious how you see kind of the cash and securities components playing out as you pull the levers and stay below $10 billion by year-end.

Yes, I think you will see our cash position decrease over time. I think some of that is just on balance sheet liquidity as we approach the end of the quarter, given the securities portfolio is was smaller. So I think you'll see it diminish, especially as we kind of manage through year end.

Okay. That's all I had. I'll leave it there. Thank you.

Thank you.

The next question is from Emily Lee with KBW. Please go ahead.

Hey everyone, this is Emily stepping in for Tim Switzer. Thanks for taking my question.

Sure, morning.

Just to go back to the NIM, I was just wondering what was the exit margin in Q3 and how are deposit rates looking at the end of the quarter too?

The exit margin on the quarter was a little higher than where we reported for the full quarter. An accretion was a similar impact for the month of September as it was for the quarter. A slight benefit, call it five to eight basis points as we exited from where we reported for the full quarter. As it relates to deposits, I think we're starting to see some more competition in the market for deposits and I think we'll continue to see that as this rate outlook plays out and as we start to see rates potentially move upward. And so we've been slowly following that trend and we'll continue to actively manage it as we have been in the past. And that will continue to likely come through our retail CD pricing product.

Understood. Very helpful. And then what does guidance imply for expenses of capital once all the cost saves are achieved? So basically the run rate for 4Q'27.

So, the full cost saves for capital will not be realized in 2027. They won't be fully realized until 2028.

Okay. Okay, thank you. That's all.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Again, if you have a question, please press star then 1. The next question is a follow-up from Brendan Nosal with Hovde. Please go ahead.

Hey, one more for me on kind of expenses. I was trying to bridge the gap from this quarter's $73 million in core expenses to the the first quarter number, you know, at the higher end of your $80 million to $82 million range. And I'm asking because it looks like Citizens is running like $4.5 million on costs. So, you know, 73 and $4.5 million gets you to like $77.5 million. So, kind of where does that other, you know, several million dollars kind of come from in the updated expense outlook for both 4Q'26 and then 1Q'27?

A couple things. I think Q3 was a little lighter than we anticipated. I think some of that was just the timing that we'll see move into the fourth quarter. Again, therefore, starting at the 73, I think you're starting off a little light, $1 million, call it, for a round number. I think then you have the annual increase in predominantly our largest expense item as it relates to salaries and benefits. I think we are seeing a meaningful increase in benefit cost expectations for '27 over '26. I'd say those are the big factors that are probably influencing that number higher than where you just quoted, Brendan. Thank you.

Yep, okay, that's helpful, Kathryn.

Thank you.

The next question is a follow-up from Nathan Race with Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.

I'm going to go to the fourth quarter. It looks like it takes a slight step down at the midpoint of $29 million, even with the contribution from Citizens. So I guess I'd be curious, is that just from lower lease income or any color on the primary drivers there?

I think you had, I think it's lease income. As we've quoted over time, that's a little bit of a volatile, that creates volatility in the fee income when it relates to lease income as we can have some end-of-term transactions that result in some gains that are reflected in that number on a quarterly basis. And I think you see that to the tune of $1 million, $1.5 million in the third quarter. So I think that run rate was a little little elevated versus the trend in Q3. And that's the biggest variance, I would say.

Thanks, Kathryn.

Thank you.

There are no further questions. Sir, do you have any closing remarks?

Yes, I want to thank everyone for joining our call this morning. Please remember that our earnings release and a webcast of this call, including our earnings conference call presentation, will be archived at peoplesbankcorp.com under the investor relations section. Thank you for your time and have a great day.

The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Good morning, and welcome to Peoples Bancorp Inc.'s conference call. My name is Nick, and I will be your conference facilitator. Today's call will cover a discussion of the results of operations for the 3 and 6 months ended June 30, 2026. [Operator Instructions]. This call is also being recorded. If you object to the recording, please disconnect at this time.

Please be advised that the commentary in this call will contain projections or other future-looking statements regarding Peoples' future financial performance or future events. These statements are based on management's current expectations.

The statements in this call, which are not historical fact, are forward-looking statements and involve a number of risks and uncertainties detailed in Peoples' Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Management believes that forward-looking statements made during this call are based on reasonable assumptions within the bounds of their knowledge of Peoples' business and operations. However, it is possible actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. Peoples disclaims any responsibility to update these forward-looking statements after this call, except as may be required by applicable legal requirements.

Peoples Second Quarter 2026 earnings release and earnings conference call presentation were issued this morning and are available at peoplesbancorp.com under Investor Relations. A reconciliation of the non-generally accepted accounting principles or GAAP financial measures discussed during this call to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is included at the end of the earnings release. This call will include about 15 to 20 minutes of prepared commentary, followed by a question-and-answer period, which I will facilitate. An archived webcast of this call will be available on peoplesbancorp.com in the Investor Relations section for 1 year.

Participants on today's call will be Tyler Wilcox, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Katie Bailey, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, and each will be available for questions following opening statements.

Mr. Wilcox, you may begin your conference.

Thank you, Nick. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call today. Earlier, we reported diluted earnings per share of $0.78 for the second quarter. When adjusted for onetime items, our diluted EPS for the quarter was $0.96, which exceeded consensus analyst estimates of $0.85 and -- these onetime items included an $8.2 million loss, which reduced diluted EPS by $0.18 related to the strategic sale of investment securities from our portfolio in preparation for the Citizens merger and our current strategic objective to remain below $10 billion in assets.

We also recorded acquisition-related expenses of $410,000 during the second quarter, which reduced our diluted EPS by $0.01. We recently purchased an energy tax credit lowering our income tax expense by $480,000 in the second quarter and positively impacting diluted EPS by $0.01. We have several highlights for the second quarter as many of our performance metrics improved compared to the linked quarter.

Our net interest income increased 3%, while our net interest margin expanded 7 basis points. Fee-based income grew over $340,000. Provision for credit losses declined 51%. The efficiency ratio improved to 58.3% compared to 58.6%. Our loans grew $51 million or 3% annualized. Noninterest-bearing deposits grew $7 million or 2% annualized. Our tangible equity to tangible assets ratio increased 34 basis points to 9.25%.

Book value per share increased to $34.41 and from $33.85, a 7% annualized growth rate. Our tangible book value per share improved at an 11% annualized rate to $23.56 from $22.95 and all of our regulatory capital ratios improved. Our provision for credit losses totaled $4.7 million for the second quarter, a decline of $5 million or 51% compared to the first quarter.

Our allowance for credit losses declined to 1.14% of total loans from 1.16% at March 31. Our lower provision for credit losses for the quarter was driven by a reduction in net charge-offs, coupled with the stabilization of macroeconomic conditions used within our model. Our annualized quarterly net charge-off rate improved to 31 basis points compared to 40 basis points for the linked quarter.

Our indirect consumer net -- consumer loan net charge-offs decreased $751,000, which was driven by lower charge-offs and improved recoveries. We continue to see declines in our small ticket lease charge-offs, which were $3.4 million compared to $3.8 million for the first quarter. These charge-offs contributed 20 basis points to the annualized net charge-off rate for the second quarter.

We have significantly reduced our position in high balance accounts, which totaled $7.2 million at June 30, and we have limited residual risk remaining within this segment of the small ticket leasing portfolio. For additional details on our small ticket leasing business, please refer to the accompanying slides.

Our nonperforming loans increased slightly and were 0.6% of total loans at quarter end. Criticized loans grew $50 million compared to March 31, comprising 4.01% of total loans at quarter end, while classified loans declined $1 million. The increase in criticized loans was mostly related to 2 commercial credits, one of which was acquired. We do not currently expect any charge-offs to arise from these relationships.

As a reminder, our first quarter criticized loans as a percent of total loans was 3.3%, which was lower than our typical historical run rate of around 4%. Our delinquency levels improved as 99.1% of our loan portfolio was considered current at June 30 compared to 98.9% at the linked quarter end.

Moving on to loan balances. We generated loan growth of $51 million or 3% annualized. Commercial and industrial loans contributed $43 million of growth followed by increases in premium finance loans of $37 million, construction loans of $25 million and home equity lines of credit of $13 million. Overall, our lease balances grew with our mid-ticket leasing business, adding over $15 million in balances, partially offset by declines in our small ticket leasing portfolio.

At the same time, our other commercial real estate loan balances declined $58 million as we experienced the elevated first half payoffs we had anticipated.

I will now turn the call over to Katie for a discussion of our financial performance.

Thanks, Tyler. For the second quarter, we saw improvement in our net interest income, which grew $2.3 million, while our net interest margin expanded 7 basis points. The reduction in our deposit costs benefited both net interest income and margin for the second quarter.

Accretion income totaled $1.2 million compared to $1.3 million for the first quarter contributing 5 basis points and 6 basis points to net interest margin, respectively. For the first 6 months of 2026, net interest income improved $10.3 million or 6%, while net interest margin expanded 6 basis points.

Our deposit cost discipline, along with higher interest income contributed to the increase. Accretion income totaled $2.4 million compared to $6.1 million for 2025, contributing 6 basis points and 15 basis points to net interest margin, respectively.

As far as our balance sheet structure, at this time, we are positioned to benefit more from a rising rate environment, a falling rate environment would cause a nominal reduction in our net interest income. However, rate uncertainty validates our relatively neutral position. As it relates to our fee-based income, we had growth of over $340,000 compared to the linked quarter. We had improvements in the majority of our fee-based income line, which more than offset the decline in insurance income driven by the annual performance-based insurance commissions received in the first quarter of each year.

For the first 6 months of 2026, fee-based income grew $3 million, mostly due to higher lease income and trust and investment income. Our noninterest expenses were up 2% compared to the linked quarter, which included $410,000 of acquisition-related expenses, the majority of which contributed to the increase in professional fees.

For the first 6 months of 2026, noninterest expenses were up 2%. The growth was driven by higher operating lease expense, which corresponds to our fee-based lease income as well as salaries and employee benefits costs and data processing and software expense.

For the first half of 2026, we have recorded $426,000 of acquisition-related expenses. Our reported efficiency ratio was 58.3% for the second quarter and 58.6% for the linked quarter. The improvement in our efficiency ratio was driven by higher revenue compared to the first quarter.

For the first 6 months of 2026, our reported efficiency ratio was 58.4% compared to 16% for the prior year and was also driven by higher revenue.

Looking at our balance sheet at quarter end, our loan-to-deposit ratio increased to 91.5% compared to 88.5% at March 31, as we had loan growth for the second quarter, coupled with a reduction in deposits. Our investment portfolio as a percent of total assets declined to 19.1% at June 30 compared to 20.3% at the linked quarter end.

The decline was driven by the sale of approximately $135 million of available-for-sale investment securities resulting in a loss of $8.2 million for the second quarter. These sales were part of our current plan to stable loan $10 billion in total assets and restructure our portfolio in conjunction with the pending Citizens merger. Our core deposit balances, which exclude brokered CDs, declined $155 million compared to March 31.

As expected, we had seasonal decreases in our governmental deposits, which were down $87 million. We also had reductions in our interest-bearing demand accounts of $17 million. During the second quarter, we also had reductions of $92 million in retail CDs. However, we improved our deposit cost by 6 basis points compared to the linked quarter. These declines were partially offset by an increase of $37 million in money markets and $7 million in noninterest-bearing deposits.

Our demand deposits as a percent of total deposits grew to 36% at June 30 compared to 35% at the linked quarter end. Our noninterest-bearing deposits to total deposits ratio was flat at 21% for both June 30 and March 31. As it relates to our capital levels, all of our regulatory capital ratios improved compared to the leach quarter end as earnings outpaced dividends.

I will now turn the call back over to Tyler for his closing comments.

Thank you, Katie. We continue to make progress with the pending Citizens merger and are excited about the opportunity to bring our associates together. We have spent a considerable amount of time within the footprint, interacting with associates and hosting meetings to discuss our future.

We are coordinating processes between teams both on the front lines and operationally to ensure a seamless transition. We are awaiting regulatory and Citizens shareholder approvals for the merger, but are anticipating a close date of early in the fourth quarter of 2026. As with recent bank acquisitions, the core system conversion will be at a later date, which we are targeting to take place early in the second quarter of 2027. At the same time, we will continue to be opportunistic about other potential acquisitions.

Moving on to our performance expectations for the full year of 2026, excluding the impact of noncore expenses and the planned merger, we expect to achieve positive operating leverage for 2026 compared to 2025. We anticipate our net interest margin will be between 4.1% and 4.3% for the full year of 2026.

The 25 basis point increase in rates from the Federal Reserve is expected to result in a 6 to 8 basis point improvement in our net interest margin for the full year. We believe our quarterly fee-based income will range between $28 million and $30 million. We expect quarterly total noninterest expense to be between $73 million and $75 million for the 2 remaining quarters of 2026.

We believe our loan growth will come in towards the low end of our guided range of 3% to 5% due to the continued movement of paydowns from late 2025 to 2026. We anticipate a slight reduction in our net charge-offs for 2026 compared to 2025, which we expect to continue to positively impact provision for credit losses, excluding any changes in the economic forecast.

For the remainder of the year, we will focus on the integration of the Citizens merger, along with continuing to develop our core business, while closely monitoring our total asset levels in relation to the $10 billion threshold. As we mentioned before, we continue to have diverse and potentially fruitful conversations with other institutions.

Our lines of business work together to deliver a client experience unlike many institutions and we see opportunities arise because of our unique market offerings. For the clients and associates of Citizens, we are excited to share our deep bench of experienced professionals who will bring access to our vast array of products and services.

This concludes our commentary, and we will open the call for questions. Once again, this is Tyler Wilcox, and joining me for the Q&A session is Katie Bailey, our Chief Financial Officer. I will now turn the call back into the hands of our call facilitator. Thank you.

[Operator Instructions]. The first question will come from Jeff Rulis with D.A. Davidson.

This is Ryan Payne on for Jeff Rulis today. Starting on the margin, does that $410 million to $430 million for the full year bake in any rate move expectations?

It does not. It's a relatively stable rate environment.

Got it. Okay. And maybe the bigger picture, what would have to happen for the margin to end the year at the higher end of that range?

I mean I think the aggressiveness by which we continue to reprice our CDs and the ability to maintain a sizable deposit book and the noninterest-bearing or the interest-bearing account. I think that will be heavily influencing as you saw the outcome in this quarter in the margin. So I think that will have heavy influence in the margin going forward.

Understood. On things going off deposits there, some seasonality, it sounds like. But how would you describe the competitive environment for funding now and would you expect to increase rates to maintain or grow deposits this year?

I would say that deposit competition remains relatively stable. I think it's competitive, but it's not increasingly so relative to what we've been seeing in the last few months.

I think we will continue to evaluate the term of rate increases. I don't know that the rack rates on the shorter-term products will move significantly. But I think with expectations as they are and as they evolve over time, we'll continue to evaluate the term at which we're raising rates.

The next question will come from Brendan Nosal with Hovde Group.

This is Amira on for Brendan. First question, kind of looping back to the NIM and looking on Slide 15. In we can see you increase your sensitivity to a plus 25% increase for the Fed funds from 3 to 4 basis points previously to 6 to 8 basis points currently. Can you just unpack that change a bit and dig into the drivers behind that?

Yes. So I just want to be clear, the projection or the guidance of $410 million to $430 million is a steady rate environment. It does not include an increase or a decrease in rates. What we have been doing in the past couple of quarters is quantifying if rates do go down by 25 basis points or the Fed moved by 25 basis points.

We've been quantifying what that would do on an annual basis to our margin. And given when we were drafting this, the expectation was more likely for a rate increase than a rate cut, we quantified the upside potential of a 25 basis point increase. that's not baked into that $410 million to $430 million that's just articulating what the benefit would be if that situation unfolds. And so I think it's largely the -- we have over 50% of our loan portfolio is variable rate. So I think that's influencing the benefit on the upside and given our deposit costs.

As you can see in the release and in the presentation, there's not as much room to go down in that avenue as there is to go up on the variable rate loans.

And just one follow-up, leaping into credit in your opening remarks, you talked about those 2 commercial credits. Is there any other color that you can provide on them

Sure. This is Tyler. A couple of thoughts. 2 completely different credits, first of all. So no commonality between them. One is a larger multifamily project that is in footprint somewhat anchored to a related kind of large economic project that is somewhat delayed, but we believe will continue. So hence, the comment that we don't expect any kind of losses over the long term in that project.

The other is in vehicle floor plan finance that we expect to be fully paid off by the end of the year. again, no losses as expected and no pattern there, just kind of a reversion to the mean is what I would say with respect to the criticized and our kind of historical averages.

The next question will come from Daniel Tamayo with Raymond James.

This is Tim Delas on for Danny. So just starting off on loan growth here. Loan growth was obviously impacted by the CRE paydown activity. But otherwise, growth is pretty good outside of that. So -- just curious if you can help us think about the expectations you guys have for payoff activity in the back half of the year and maybe how loan pipelines are shaping up?

Sure thing. Thanks for the question. So a couple of thoughts on the expected paydowns. We guided last quarter that we expected about $480 million in payoffs for the full year and estimated that we would come in at about 2/3 to 3/4 of that in the first half. where we came out was about $300 million in the first half. We still expect the full year to fall somewhere around that original estimate. So call it anywhere from $150 million to $200 million for the remainder of the year. So that certainly is a bit of a headwind. And then you combine that a little bit with some of the good, I would say, robust pipeline that's kind of competing with that. and a little bit of remixing over the last multiple quarters into the C&I business away from the CRE business because of the increased paydowns in CRE is where we land there at that kind of lower end of the guide because the payoffs amortization and then the final kind of factor I would add would be that in the consumer lending we're seeing kind of muted demand.

So we expect kind of indirect auto to be largely flat throughout the year and not experience growth as well. So those would be the kind of puts and takes factors that are getting us out there with respect to the loan growth.

I appreciate all that color, Tyler. Katie, maybe one for you. Just a point of clarification on the prepositioning during the quarter. hoping you can help us out, tell us when those securities were sold during the quarter and kind of what the yields were on the securities that were sold?

Yes. They were sold in early May. -- and the yields were about $275 million.

Okay. I appreciate that. And then, Tyler, maybe one last one for you. As you've gotten deeper here in the integration planning with Citizens, just curious if there are any aspects of the franchise that stood out to you or any incremental areas where you believe legacy people kind of enhance the franchise further since we last spoke in April.

Yes. Since we last spoke, the story is really -- it is what we thought it was, and that's why we're very excited about adding it. The strong deposit base good loyal clients and communities that we do well in and an opportunity, we have added some, for example, some wealth management professional capabilities in those markets and are already seeing some benefits there.

We are very strong in insurance in Eastern Kentucky and bringing to bear that those introductions to our clients and kind of the beginnings of the cross-pollination that will take place over the coming months and years. And so we're very excited about those 2 core businesses of ours, particularly the investments in insurance and the opportunity to provide those to the Citizens clients. And everything is according to plan.

I will note just since you asked about Citizens and a couple of the early reaction notes, I think, commented that -- the expected closing was delayed. We don't view it as delayed. And if we gave that impression, I just wanted to clear that up. I think we had guided second half in last quarter's call, and we are still right on schedule and everything, of course, is pending regulatory approval and shareholder approval, but we are -- we believe we're right on track with where we expect it to be.

Okay. Terrific. Well, thanks for that point of clarification and color there, Tyler.

The next question will come from Tim Switzer with KBW.

I have a follow-up on the balance sheet restructuring. I think you guys previously talked about selling about $560 million of balances, including the Citizens portfolio, should we expect more sales to occur before the deal closes? And if it's after the deal closes, what's the timing we should expect for that?

Yes. So just as a reminder, about half of that was the sale of what we would be acquiring from citizens in their investment portfolio and then about half of it was selling some of our portfolio, and you've seen us sell about half of our contribution of that. We would anticipate selling the Citizens portion in as close to close as possible. And we will continue to evaluate the sale of the remaining component of our portfolio.

We may do something in the third, but it likely wouldn't be until the fourth and it all just be dependent on where we are from an asset size and where the rate environment is at the time.

Okay. And do you still see a way for that to be accretive to NII by pairing it with the offloading of I assume brokered deposits kind of like what we saw this quarter?

Yes. I think that's right. And an overnight position as well once brokerage completely eliminated, reduced.

Okay. That's helpful. And putting citizens aside for a minute, how do you see the trajectory of the margin over the rest of this year and early '27. Assuming there's no rate movements at all. Do you think you can continue to squeeze out a little bit of margin improvement going forward?

Yes. I think there continues to be some mix shift in the deposit portfolio. So I think there's upward potential.

Yes. The only thing I would add that adds some potential upside as well as we've been decreasing the small ticket leasing portfolio. and we expect kind of in early 2027 for that to begin to turn around and see growth there and higher-yielding assets there have the potential to impact NIM as well.

Okay. Okay. And how do you see the rate environment, especially with the rates moving higher over the last few months, how do you see that impacting the credit performance of the leasing portfolio?

Yes. I think it depends. I think more impact potentially is we've weathered -- I would say we weathered the tariff kind of questions. We've seem to have weathered the kind of fuel price increases, which these -- this portfolio specifically is a little bit more small business oriented. Now recall that these are fixed rate leases in this business, but the term is also not incredibly long.

So we think there's limited credit risk there overall. And depending on -- I don't think a quarter or a couple of rate increases will be meaningfully a meaningful change. And recall that, that portfolio is already kind of at a gross origination yield of between 18% and 20%. So they're not particularly rate sensitive given the originations being where they are.

The next question will come from Nathan Race with Piper Sandler.

This is Adam Kroll on for Nathan. Maybe a question for Katie. So just going back to the margin. I think last quarter's call, you mentioned an additional 15 to 20 basis points opportunity in potential NIM expansion for 2027 post the security sale and borrowings paydown. So I guess, is that still the right way to think about it for 2027? And just any additional color there?

Yes, I think so. And that was in conjunction with the Citizens acquisition, I think, collectively, which was inclusive of the securities trade that we've been talking about. We just preemptively did a portion of our sale in the second quarter. But yes, that's still accurate.

Got it. And then -- could you remind us what you have in terms of fixed rate loans that would be set to reprice higher over the next 12 months or so.

I mean our fixed rate book is about 46%, 48% of the portfolio, average 3 to 5 I think average life, 3 to 5 years. So yes.

Okay. Maybe moving to the charge-off guide for a slight reduction for '26. I was wondering if you could quantify the slight reduction guide a bit further? And is the expectation that charge-offs remain around this 30 to 40 basis point range for the back half of the year?

Yes. I think you're slight, maybe a little bit understanding it at this point. We are pleased with moving to kind of an annualized rate of 31 basis points and I think you'll see consistency. We've talked for a while about the major component of that being the small ticket leasing and that is 20 basis points of our 31 for this quarter. And we talked about for the last year kind of the plateau in the second half kind of coming down, and we still expect that and maybe are seeing that happen a little bit earlier than we had expected, which is a good sign.

So I think when you compare us year-over-year, we expect this trend to continue for the remainder of the year. Continued strength in the commercial, which doesn't really have much charge-off to speak of. You saw consumer come down because the first quarter is generally historically our larger charge-off quarter in that space. And small ticket leasing continues to decline. So we are optimistic.

Got it. And -- on NorthStar, I was wondering if you had the contribution -- the charge-off contribution from the high balance accounts during the quarter?

High balance accounts specifically, if you give me 1 sec to shuffle some papers, I can get that for you. First of all, the high balance accounts at this point comprise about 7% of the total portfolio. And so their contribution to the losses was about $1.3 million, $1.4 million of the $9 million in charge-offs or so -- excuse me, -- of the year-to-date charge-offs, not quarterly charge-offs.

The next question will come from Daniel Cardenas with Brean Capital.

So far on the margin and all in thesis. So it sounds like positive competition is still relatively same kind of stable-ish. But can you provide some color on the lending side? What's competition for the better quality loans looking like? And would you say that the market is still -- our appetition is still rational, coming here into 3Q?

Thanks, Dan. I would say it's largely rational. I would say there is a small element of the pressure on balances of -- particularly in the commercial real estate space. of increased competition. And as we've said on this call before, we are not inclined to chase stupid, and we'll be happy to trade slightly lower balances for sticking to our knitting on pricing. So -- but it is competitive for quality assets. We're not seeing the lemmings going over the cliff to any degree, just to be very clear.

But we are scrutinizing deals that we want being competitive where we are. And there are also maybe a bit fewer projects in general out there. But again, not any major trends that I would identify at this point. I don't know if that helps.

Very, very helpful. And then just looking at margin here for the quarter and accretion was about 5 basis points contribution to the margin. Absent Citizens is the expectation that yield accretion continues to give you about 5 basis points for the next couple of quarters.

I think that's -- it starts to come down 1 basis point a quarter roughly. I mean, stable to down a basis point, I would say, but it's in the range of 5 basis points, yes.

[Operator Instructions]. The next question will come from Matthew Breese with Stephens Inc.

First for me, this topic has been talked about a couple of times, but Katy, just curious, what was the spot cost of deposits and the spot NIM at the end of the quarter? And I guess I'm curious, I'm going to ask it a different way, how do you feel about your ability to maintain or further lower deposit costs from here? Is that realistic?

I think it is. I think we were right around the 20% range for the spot at the end of June. There is some nuance in each month as you might expect. But I do think maybe not as much expansion per quarter, but I think there continues to be some room to reprice some of our CDs downward, as we proceed through the year.

Okay. So we're not done yet on deposit costs.

I don't think so.

And then, Tyler, you had mentioned some of the dynamics within commercial real estate. Do you think that, that has been down for 3 quarters in a row. Do you think we can start to see some commercial real estate balance stabilization by the end of the year? And what is your expectation on when you might be able to show some growth there.

Yes. First of all, I don't mind, as I mentioned earlier, I don't mind our kind of mix shift towards C&I. As you're aware, we've kind of been proud of our kind of ability to be selective in the commercial real estate space and our lower lower portion of CRE to risk-based capital that I think is now around 178%. So that's kind of been a strategic goal.

The pipeline is strong in that area. Recall, part of what is driving these payoff pressures is largely 2 things: one, earlier sales of many of these properties. So it shows there's still high demand in the space. And then to kind of the permanent market refinancing opportunities.

But as I look at our pipeline and as we evaluate that, we do think there is still strong demand and I could see us going into the 2027, we stabilized to potentially increasing over the coming year. But I am very comfortable with where we are at and where that mix shift is and it gives us the ability to be very competitive and price right and select the deals that make the most sense for our credit philosophy, which is to be highly selective.

Got it. Okay. Last one for me is, obviously, there's a lot on your plate with the upcoming deal close, but given the balance sheet size dynamics, I would imagine that you remain engaged in additional M&A conversations? And would just love to hear about how those conversations are going and whether or not you see opportunity on that front in kind of the near to medium term?

Absolutely. Thank you. And one, we remain ready, willing and able to do additional deals and we feel very comfortable, and I'm not announcing an announcement. But just to say, we would be very comfortable in making an announcement should something materialize that we find it strategically compelling engaged in a lot of discussions. And I hope they are fruitful, and I believe that there are counterparties out there that are interested in the story and in the upside of a better future together. And we continue to engage in those conversations and hope that some of them will bear some fruit here.

So -- in the meantime, we're -- as we have for, call it, 3 years plus now exercising strategic patients and being focusing on executing in the core, which I think this quarter really demonstrates this year as a whole. So we are ready to go and optimistic.

At this time, there are no further questions. Sir, do you have any closing remarks?

Yes. I want to thank everyone for joining our call this morning. Please remember that our earnings release and a webcast of this call, including our earnings conference call presentation will be archived at peoplesbancorp.com under the Investor Relations section. Thank you for your time, and have a great day.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Good morning, and welcome to Peoples Bancorp Inc.'s conference call. My name is Chuck, and I'll be your conference facilitator. Today's call will cover a discussion of the results operations for the quarter ended March 31, 2026. [Operator Instructions] This call is also being recorded. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that the commentary in this call will contain projections and other forward-looking statements regarding Peoples' future financial performance and future events. These statements are based on management's current expectations -- the statements in this call, which are not historical fact, are forward-looking statements and involve a number of risks and uncertainties detailed in the People's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Management believes that the forward-looking statements made during this call are based on reasonable assumptions within the bound of their knowledge of Peoples' business and operations.

However, it is possible actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. Peoples disclaims any responsibility to update these forward-looking statements after this call, except as may be required by applicable legal requirements. Peoples First Quarter 2026 earnings release and earnings conference call presentation were issued this morning and are available at peoplesbancorp.com under Investor Relations.

A reconciliation of the non-generally accepted accounting principles or GAAP financial measures discussed during this call to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is included at the end of the earnings release. This call will include about 15 to 20 minutes of prepared commentary, followed by a question-and-answer period, which I will facilitate. An archived webcast of this call will be available at peoplesbancorp.com in the Investor Relations section for 1 year.

Participants in this call today are Mr. Tyler Wilcox President and Chief Executive Officer; along with Ms. Katie Bailey, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, and each will be available for questions following opening statements. Mr. Wilcox, you may begin the conference.

Thank You, Chuck. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call today. Earlier this morning, we announced that we entered into an agreement to merge with Citizens National Corporation. Citizens has approximately $700 million in assets and operates 12 branches in 8 counties in Kentucky. We expect to close the merger in the second half of 2026. We are excited about this partnership, which expands our presence in Kentucky markets that both overlap and complement our existing footprint. Citizens is a deposit-rich franchise that shares a similar philosophy in serving the needs of clients and communities.

We look forward to welcoming their shareholders employees and clients to become part of the Peoples team. We believe this merger will improve shareholder value and benefit associates of both Citizens and Peoples, while offering clients of citizens more diversified products. I will go into more details on the planned merger later in the call, and you can refer to our accompanying slides for additional details.

Now I would like to highlight our results issued this morning. We reported diluted earnings per share of $0.81 for the first quarter. Our results included several improvements compared to the linked quarter. For the first quarter, our net interest margin expanded 4 basis points driven by lower deposit costs. We had a $400,000 increase in fee-based income. We had loan growth of $13 million when we had originally anticipated loan growth to be flat due to expected paydowns during the first quarter.

Our nonperforming loans and delinquency levels improved while we also experienced reductions in our criticized and classified loan balances. Our noninterest-bearing deposits grew over $41 million or 3% our loan-to-deposit ratio improved to 88.5%. Our tangible equity to tangible assets ratio increased 12 basis points to 8.91%. Our book value per share grew 1% on an annualized basis compared to year-end, while our tangible book value per share improved 3% on an annualized basis.

All of our regulatory capital ratios improved and our diluted EPS of $0.81 exceeded consensus analyst estimates of $0.80. As we've noted previously, we typically have annual first quarter onetime expenses that occur, which include stock-based compensation expense related to the annual forfeiture rate true-up on stock vested during the first quarter, along with upfront expense on stock grants to retirement-eligible employees which combined for a total of $764,000 and negatively impacted diluted EPS by $0.02 per share and employer health savings account contributions of $689,000 which reduced diluted EPS by $0.02 per share.

For the first quarter, our provision for credit losses totaled $9.7 million, increasing our allowance for credit losses as a percent of total loans to 1.16% from 1.12% at year-end. Our provision for credit losses for the quarter was driven by a deterioration in macroeconomic conditions used within our models and is not indicative of issues we are seeing within our portfolio. However, we are cautious and disciplined within our underwriting and portfolio management as we assess the impact of the Iran conflict on oil prices and inflationary pressure on prospects and existing clients.

Our annualized quarterly net charge-off rate improved to 40 basis points compared to 44 basis points for the linked quarter. Our small ticket lease charge-offs totaled $3.8 million for the first quarter and contributed 23 basis points of our annualized quarterly net charge-off rate. While we experienced a reduction in our net charge-offs for the first quarter from a dollar perspective, we do anticipate our second quarter net charge-offs to be consistent with recent quarters. We continue to project that the net charge-offs will come down in the second half of 2026, compared to recent quarterly levels.

We continue to reduce the size of our high balance accounts in our small ticket leasing business which totaled around $9 million at March 31, down from nearly $13 million at year-end. For more information on our small ticket leasing business and related net charge-offs, please refer to our accompanying slides. Our nonperforming loans declined over $3 million compared to the linked quarter, mostly due to reductions in several categories of loans 90-plus days past due and accruing. We also had improvements in our criticized loans, which were down $12 million compared to the linked quarter end, and our classified loans were down $5 million.

At March 31, our criticized loan balances as a percent of total loans improved to 3.31%, while our classified loans as a percent of total loans declined to 2.1%. Our delinquency levels improved. And at March 31, 98.9% of our loan portfolio was considered current compared to 98.6% at year-end.

Moving on to loan balances. We generated loan growth of $13 million. We had significant commercial and industrial loan growth of over $111 million, which was partially offset by reductions in construction and commercial real estate loans of about $55 million combined. We also had clients in premium finance and leases of $24 million and $15 million, respectively. We experienced some of the payoffs we had anticipated for the first quarter. However, some of those migrated to the second quarter.

I will now turn the call over to Kate for a discussion of our financial performance.

Thanks, Tyler. Our net interest income declined $629,000 compared to the linked quarter, while our net interest margin expanded 4 basis points. Most of the reduction in net interest income was driven by declines in accretion income which totaled $1.3 million compared to $1.8 million for the fourth quarter, contributing 6 basis points and 8 basis points, respectively. We had 2 fewer days in the first quarter than in the fourth quarter, which also contributed to the decline in net interest income. .

The improvement in our net interest margin was partially driven by a 12 basis point reduction in our core deposit costs, which exclude brokered CDs. We also had a decrease in our brokered CD position, which helped to increase our net interest margin. From a total balance sheet perspective, we have worked to minimize our interest rate risk exposure and are in a relatively neutral interest rate risk position. As it relates to our fee-based income, we had growth of $400,000 compared to the linked quarter.

We recognized $1.2 million related to our annual performance-based insurance commissions, which we typically receive in the first quarter of each year. This income was partially offset by lower electronic banking income and deposit account service charges, which are seasonally higher in the fourth quarter of each year. Our noninterest expenses were up $341,000 compared to the linked quarter.

As Tyler mentioned, we typically recognize additional employee-related expense during the first quarter of each year, which drove the increase compared to the fourth quarter. If you exclude our additional onetime expenses from the first quarter, our noninterest expense is actually down compared to the fourth quarter. Our reported efficiency ratio was 58.6% for the first quarter and 57.8% for the linked quarter. Increase in our ratio was driven by the onetime expenses from the first quarter, coupled with lower accretion income.

Looking at our balance sheet at quarter end, our loan-to-deposit ratio improved to 88.5% compared to 88.8% at year-end as our influx of deposits outpaced our loan growth for the first quarter. Our investment portfolio as a percent of total assets declined slightly to 20.3% at March 31, and compared to 20.5% at year-end. Our core deposit balances, which exclude brokered CDs, increased $192 million compared to the linked quarter end. This improvement was due to $102 million of governmental deposit growth, coupled with an increase of $41 million in noninterest-bearing deposits. This growth was partially offset by $154 million of declines in our brokered CDs as we reduced our physician opting for lower short-term borrowing rates as a funding source.

As a note, our governmental deposits are seasonally higher in the first quarter of each year, so we anticipate seeing some of that money flow out in the second quarter. Our demand deposits as a percent of total deposits were flat at 35% for both quarter end and year-end. Our noninterest-bearing deposits to total deposits grew to 21% at March 31 compared to 20% at year-end. Moving on to our capital position. All of our regulatory capital ratios improved compared to the linked quarter end. Our tangible equity to tangible assets ratio improved 12 basis points to 8.9% in quarter end compared to 8.8% at year-end. Our book value per share grew to $33.85

while our tangible book value per share improved to $22.95 and or 3% annualized.

We increased our quarterly dividend rate for the 11th consecutive year to $0.42 per share. This results in an annualized dividend yield of 4.84%.

Finally, I will turn the call over to Tyler for his closing comments.

Thank you, Katie. Looking to our results for the full year of 2026. We expect the following, which excludes the impact of noncore expenses and the proposed merger. We expect to achieve positive operating leverage for 2026 compared to 2025. We anticipate our net interest margin will be between 4% and 4.2% for the full year 2026, which includes 125 basis point rate cut. Each incremental 25 basis point reduction in rates from the Federal Reserve is expected to result in a 3 to 4 basis point decline in our net interest margin for the full year, while similar increases would have a 3 to 4 basis point improvement in our net interest margin.

We believe our quarterly fee-based income will range between $28 million and $30 million, we expect quarterly total noninterest expense to be between $73 million and $75 million for the remaining quarterly periods of 2026. We believe our loan growth will come in towards the low end of our guided range of 3% to 5% due to the movement of paydowns from late 2025 to 2026 coupled with the macro environment changes that occurred in the first quarter.

We anticipate a slight reduction in our net charge-offs for 2026 compared to 2025, which we expect to positively impact provision for credit losses, excluding any changes in the economic forecast. As far as our proposed merger, we find the Citizens merger attractive for many reasons. While we have talked more frequently about large deals to cross $10 billion, we have consistently sought opportunities for depth and efficiency in our existing markets. This opportunity with Citizens meets all of those other criteria while retaining the strategic flexibility to organically stay under $10 billion as well as pursue additional merger and acquisition opportunities.

Citizens has high-quality, low-cost deposits and an attractively low loan-to-deposit ratio. This merger will give us increased efficiency in markets where we already have a meaningful presence. Our diversified products and services will allow us to expand offerings to the Citizens clients to engage them in a more robust overall financial experience, while giving our existing clients more access to convenient locations.

We look forward to welcoming the Citizens associates into our organization and allowing them to continue to deliver high-quality service to their clients while giving their clients the opportunity to work with our other lines of business in fulfilling their needs. This transaction is valued at approximately $77 million with shareholders of Citizens receiving 2.1 shares of people's stock and $8 in cash for each share of Citizens stock. The merger is priced attractively for our shareholders with an expected tangible book value earn-back period of less than 1 year. As far as assumptions, we anticipate realizing 40% cost savings associated with this transaction, which should improve our combined efficiency ratio. We expect the transaction to be accretive to our 2027 EPS by $0.20.

We also anticipate that our regulatory capital ratios will improve at the close of the merger based on pro forma results. We have included additional details regarding the proposed merger within our accompanying slides. The Citizens merger transaction is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions including regulatory and shareholder approvals. Last quarter, we provided clarity as to our anticipated crossing of $10 billion in assets.

We said that [indiscernible] actions taken, we would cross that mark in 2027. This remains the case, and we also continue to retain some flexibility to remain under $10 billion for a period of time using the levers we described last quarter. including flexibility in our investment portfolio beyond proposed actions taken related to the merger. Going forward, we will continue to consider all viable paths. These include a larger bank acquisition in the $2 billion to $5 billion asset range as our primary priority.

We additionally see a path where we do more small deals, given the larger number of available partners at that level and the potential for efficiencies as seen in our recently announced deal. Additionally, we believe the current regulatory environment is generally favorable to bank mergers and acquisitions, giving opportunities for multiple deals, which our team is capable of pursuing and executing.

Finally, we will weigh the trade-offs of crossing $10 billion organically in the future and the negative impact of the Durbin amendment. Ultimately, we acknowledge some uncertainty is inherent in our share price and has been noted by us, our analysts and our shareholders, crossing $10 billion in any of these described manners could serve to provide strategic clarity. We continue to strive to increase shareholder value by producing stable and reliable financial results, being mindful with our strategic and organic growth while giving our clients a robust financial offering, we will always work to make decisions that are in the best interest of our shareholders, associates and clients.

This concludes our commentary, and we will open the call for questions. Once again, this is Tyler Wilcox, and joining me for the Q&A session with Katie Bailey, our Chief Financial Officer. I will now turn the call back into the hands of our call facilitator.

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] our first question for today will come from Jeff Rulis with D.A. Davidson. Please go ahead.

This is Ryan Penon for Jeff Rulis. If I could start with how the deal came to be and overall, your relationship with the bank.

Yes. Thanks. Appreciate the question. So in 2018, we did the First Commonwealth acquisition, which was headquartered very close in proximity geographically that represented our kind of first of multiple expansions into Kentucky. And even at that time, we looked around those markets saw the attractive cost of deposits saw the kind of like-minded associates and communities where we can make a difference and frankly, have had an interest in this franchise ever since then. So we've been watching and waiting for some number of years. They've been a good performing bank and have been committed to independents.

And given their recent decision to proceed with exploring a sale, we found that think we were great partners for each other, and it came together nicely because of that fit, because of that overlap and because of that long-term interest that we had.

Okay. Great. And I appreciate the NIM guide for the full year. But looking ahead with the transaction, where could we see the margin shaking out kind of post the planned securities sales and borrowing paydowns?

Yes. I mean I think there's obviously upward history to that number. I think 26% is going to be impacted, but not until the later part of the year. So I think when we look at 27% on a more full year basis, I think there's a 15 to 20 basis point opportunity to our stand-alone guide on the margin side. .

Got it. last one for me. So with the 40% cost savings, what's built into that number. Is that more so back office and systems? And do you have estimates on timing of those cost saves?

Yes, I'll address the timing first. We expect about 50% of that cost savings to be effectuated within 2026 and the remainder within the beginning of 2027. As to kind of the mix of that, it's a combination of everything. There's contracts, there's duplicate locations. There's staffing and so forth. So it's the usual mix of efficiencies from the 2 organizations combining. .

Next question will come from Tim Switzer with KBW.

On the deal. One quick one, and I'm sorry if you guys already said this, but any more color you can provide on like the timing of the deal close? Are we thinking end of Q4, beginning Q4, Q3? Just trying to get a better idea for the model. .

Probably right near the ending of Q3 beginning of Q4 for closing we expect conversion in kind of the second quarter sometime of next year.

Got it. Okay. And does the Citizens acquisition, like does that preclude you at all from announcing another merger before closing? Or do you think you still have the capability to do that if the right opportunity arrives. .

Given the right opportunity, we are ready, willing and able and obviously, continue long term in many conversations. So should any of those come to fruition, we would we would be ready to announce that and execute on it. So this does not put us on the sidelines in any way, shape or form.

Okay. That's great to hear. And my guess would be no just given the size, but does this acquisition alter your criteria on the type of bank you'd like to acquire the size of bank, your strategy or approach to that as you cross $10 billion? .

It doesn't. I think like I said in the prepared remarks, although we've talked probably more frequently about our #1 choice being a single large acquisition we've left open that possibility, especially kind of in the last year given the regulatory favorability to time close and those types of things and we've seen in other transactions out there in the world. So we see that and noticed it. And then if we find something that's very attractive in the $1 billion range, maybe a little bit more, maybe a little bit less. It has a lot of the metrics that are attractive for our shareholders like this 1 is we would absolutely pursue that. And then be on the train to continue that over time and continue to be open in that scenario to larger or smaller deals going forward.

Got you. Very helpful. Thank you, Tyler.

Thank you.

Thanks, Tim. .

Next question will come from Brendan Nosal with Hovde.

If I look at Slide 22, just the actions that you plan on taking around the $10 billion threshold, are those contemplated in the deal accretion of 5.6%? Or would that be further accretive kind of given where securities roll off versus where the borrowing costs are.

All right. Sorry, I'm getting to your slide. So the transaction -- the selling of the securities is contemplated in the metrics that we noted related to the deal. But any further action outside of selling part of their securities -- or their securities portfolio and part of ours is not contemplated in the deal. .

Sorry, say that again, Katy, what is included in the deal accretion you provide and what isn't?

Yes. Included is the selling of about $300 million of our securities and their securities portfolio. So the $560 -- I don't think it's -- Yes, the $560 million noted on Slide 22 is contemplated or is included in the deal math that we articulated. .

All right. That's helpful. Maybe turning to expenses. -- even with the seasonally higher items that tend to hit in the first quarter, I thought expenses were really well contained but it looks like you did increase the expected run rate for the final 3 quarters of the year. Is this just a timing difference for when you realize certain things? Or is there maybe something else worth pointing out?

The 1 thing I would point out is it's mostly impacted by operating lease expense, which has corresponding revenue associated with it from our Vantage leasing operations. And so positive to pretax earnings, but it does increase the expense base, and that's what's driving that increase in the guide. And there's revenue on the other side, like I said, but that revenue side stayed within our guide previous guide.

Got it. Okay. And let me sneak 1 more in here. Just on the loan mark for Citizens. I mean 4% Lanmark feels I guess, somewhat heavy from the current credit environment. Was there anything in particular that drove the market to that level, whether it's a specific portfolio or something you saw in the diligence performance sorry, in the diligence process that might not be super obvious to those of us on the outside?

Yes, I would agree with you that, especially their reported metrics, which we found to be validated at very few charge-offs I'd say, one, it's a very small denominator. So 1 or 2 loans can significantly move that a little bit as we did our analysis, they had 1 or 2 very small emerging loan situations that we wanted to take a cautious approach to and ensure that we are fully reserved for. So there is no systematic issue. We're very satisfied with the credit but that 1 or 2 relationships is what drove a reasonable size for them is what drove that mark.

Next question will come from Adam Kroll with Piper Sandler.

I'm on for [indiscernible] Maybe a question for Katie. You had some really nice reductions in funding costs during the quarter. I guess, are you still seeing opportunities to reduce deposit costs even with the Fed on hold?

Yes, we continually evaluate, I think, we meet at least twice a month and more regularly off-line to evaluate pricing and compare our pricing competitively as well as the balances that we're seeing in our portfolio. So -- we have continued to remain strategic and opportunistic as it relates to the deposit costs and most notably in the retail CD product.

Got it. Maybe switching to the loan growth guide for the year. Just given some of the commentary in the deck on the macro environment changes. I was just wondering if you could provide some color if you're seeing that come through in the pipeline or hearing some of your borrowers pausing on projects? Or is it more just being conservative?

Yes. I'll start by saying it's generally more being conservative. And when we look at kind of the pressures on our net loan growth, it's really about the payoff activity. For context, we have -- we expect a little over $400 million in payoffs for the full year. And the vast majority, about $380 million of that we expect in the first half, just to give you an idea of kind of where we're coming from there. So our commentary about the macro environment, we still continue to see really robust as shows in our results, C&I loan demand. maybe a tinge down in the CRE project funding and sourcing, but still experienced growth there.

And then finally, I would say, maybe in the consumer side, we're seeing a little bit more slowdown particularly in kind of our indirect and residential as interest rates remain high and affordability, for example, in the auto industry, I think we've all seen the headlines around the average auto price hitting $50,000. And so I think rising fuel costs and some of those things are impacting the consumer demand, a little bit more than the commercial demand.

Got it. Really appreciate the color, Tyler. Maybe just last 1 on credit. On the Northstar portfolio specifically. I was wondering if you had the charge-off contribution specifically from the high balance accounts during the quarter?

We'll see the high balance accounts as a percentage of the charge-offs. They're about -- in this quarter, they were about $1.15 million of the $3.8 million of the charge-offs within that business. So about 30%.

Okay. Got it.

Your next question will come from Daniel Tamayo with Raymond James.

Thank you I'm going to dig a little bit more into the size of the deal. I know you had -- you've made comments in the prepared remarks and then I answered a question on it. But -- you've obviously been looking for a deal for a while and then this 1 comes along and it's significantly smaller, I think, than what we were potentially looking for, which I don't think is a bad thing. Is it fair to say -- I mean, I think you said it, but is it fair to say that the $2 billion to $5 billion deal is that checks all the boxes as much harder to find maybe than you were anticipating and the more likely path or at least easier to see path over the next few years as you do a number of these smaller deals to find your way over $10 billion?

Yes. I mean just playing the odds, Danny. One I would say the old saying the neighbor's farm only goes on sale once a generation, right? And so this -- I hope everybody realizes this is a deal that because it became available now, we felt like we had to be opportunistic and seize on it. But if you're just going back, if you're just playing the numbers, there are literally hundreds of banks that fit within the kind of $1 billion range and there's a much smaller number.

So strategically and execution wise, it is -- for all the reasons we've said all along, it is much more preferable to grab that $3 billion or $4 billion bank but there's just fewer. I would say I'm still as optimistic as I have been because we continue to have conversations with banks that are in that space, whether those materialize in quarters over 2 years, I can't say right now, but I am optimistic enough to continue to talk publicly here about that being something that we see as a viable path. But just given the numbers and given the favorable regulatory environment and given our ability to execute on that. I wouldn't say it's more likely that we'll do a smaller deal, but it may be is as likely, and we're ready, willing and able because again, those who have followed us for a while, like you have, remember the 4 deals in 4 quarters, I'm not announcing that, to be very clear. But our team is capable of that. And so we see it as a viable path.

Okay. That's great. Anything else in the loan book or business-wise that you think you are interested and get out of or selling from their balance sheet?

No. They have a very -- their balance sheet and their loan portfolio is very much in line with what you look at First Commonwealth Bank, you look at Premier, you look at -- although I would say it's maybe higher quality than some that we've looked at in the past. So -- there's nothing that we're going to wholesale walk away from, and we'll work with those clients, and we're looking forward to that. It's, again, communities we know -- there are many loans that we had at some point that they picked up and vice versa. So that's the good of being in markets that we are highly familiar with.

Okay. So the way to think about the net add from a balance sheet perspective is kind of their balance sheet that they're bringing on minus the 560 securities I mean that's kind of the way to think about it from a -- before any growth obviously and maybe some on off, that's a kind of fair way to start for a place to start. .

Yes, that's fair. I think their loan portfolio is about $350 million, CRE and 1-4 family. And it's just very, very community bank. -- no surprises. Some C-stores, some hotels, all things we're familiar with.

Okay. And sorry, some cleanup items here, Katy, the 15 to 20 basis points of NIM expansion that you talked about, how much of that is accretion do you think?

It's a couple of basis points. It's not a significant contributor to the to the margin impact. I think the more significant margin benefit is coming from the reduction of low-yielding securities and the paydown of higher cost overnight wholesale funding? .

Got it. Okay. I don't want to take everybody's questions. I'm not sure if I'm the last one or not. If I'm not, let me know, and I'll jump off by the way.

I'll you more behind you, but that's okay.

Go ahead. I'll drop off. And if it doesn't get asked, I'll get back on.

Next question will come from Matthew Breese with Stephens Inc.

to start, what is the current Durbin-related revenue risks upon crossing $10 billion?

It's about $10 million pretax before this deal.

Okay. And then is there any incremental expenses or you've kind of already checked off that box.

No. We have our expenses baked in, we are ready to cross.

And there won't be a negative dividend to that on expenses for us.

Okay. And Katy, I think you had mentioned just kind of the remixing or the repricing of securities. Could you give us some sense for expected cash flows the rest of the year in the securities book and kind of the roll-on, roll-off dynamics within that?

So for our portfolio on a stand-alone basis for our portfolio, it still remains in that $15 million to $20 million a month of cash flow that we received .

Do you know what the yield is one cash flows?

I would guess somewhere in the range of $350 million .

Okay. And you're putting it back on 100 to 150 bps better .

Sometimes, it just depends where we are with loan growth where we are on the funding side. But yes, if we're reinvesting it, I think your number is correct. -- maybe upward -- up to 5 depending where we are in the cycle of the market .

Okay. Okay. I will -- do you have the -- I think you had said just a couple of bps from accretion from the deal? Is that's right, right out of the gate?

Correct.

Thats' all I had.

The next question is a follow-up from Adam Kroll with Piper Sandler.

Just a follow-up for me. Maybe for Katy. I'd be curious, just what are new loans coming on the portfolio at an more broadly what you're seeing from a competition perspective? And maybe just remind us what you have in terms of fixed rate loans repricing over the next year or so?

Sure. So the rate that's coming on, as you might imagine, it varies meaningfully across all the portfolios that we have on the lending side. but I would say it's somewhere between -- between 7 and 7.25%. And then as far as fixed versus variable, it's a -- about 50-50, I think we're slightly -- it might be 55% variable and 45% fixed as we sit here today. And I can't remember if there was another component to your question. And if so, please feel free to reask. Just in terms of fixed rate loans, maybe repricing higher over the next 12 months or so, that could be kind of a tailwind to yield? Yes, I think that's correct. And the other thing I've highlighted the last few quarters is the production in our North Star leasing portfolio been depressed or lower than we had historically seen, given the activities on the credit side that we've articulated the last few quarters.

I think to the extent we start to see that production ramp back up -- and we -- in the credit box that we've articulated very clearly, there is, I think, meaningful opportunity to the margin given those are coming in somewhere between 18% and 20% from a rate perspective on new originations.

We expect that ramp up to kind of as we've added -- as we've talked about, new management there, kind of towards the end of this year, beginning of next year is when you'll see that begin to make an impact.

Got it. Really appreciate the color there. .

The next question is a follow-up from Brendan Nosal with Hovde.

Just not to beat a dead horse on kind of the merger assumptions. But Kate, you said the security sales were contemplated in the 5.6% EPS accretion -- does that also include the impact of the borrowing reduction?

Yes. The whole -- that whole balance sheet trade rate there is included. .

Okay. Perfect. And then 1 other for me, just on North Star, I guess the work you've done on kind of the high balance stuff. But given that like 2/3 of the charge-offs from North Star are coming from outside of that particular sleeve. Is there anything else you -- any other actions you need to contemplate and get the loss content in that book where you need to? Or is the high balance activities sufficient in your view?

No. There is action taking. We talk about the high balance quite a bit because it's a quantifiable portfolio that we haven't originated for well over a year now, and we want to make clear that that's not going to be a recurring issue. As to the rest of it, one, the denominator has continued to shrink, and that's as Katie just acknowledged, and that's by design. And so the charge-off rate is a bit higher than we would like. But historically, we'd like to get back to that 4% to 6% charge-off rate. So we turned that portfolio around to growth and originate what we will be seeing that's not high balance and that is of the quality that will deliver that 4% to 6% charge-off ratio. We feel good about where the credit target is.

I think we're right over the target that we want to be at. And it's just going to take a while for that rate to normalize as the portfolio begins to grow again. But some of that is non high balance but is related to the 2022, 2023 vintages. But with what we've been putting on the books and in this new credit regime over the last year, we have a high degree of confidence that we have it under control. And it's a viable business that we're pretty excited about for the reasons that Katie articulated in future.

Okay. Fantastic.

Your next question will come from Daniel Cardenas with Brean Capital.

Good morning guys. Dan? Congrats on the deal. Just absent the transaction itself, maybe if you could -- and I apologize if I missed this, I been jumping around here, but can you maybe give us some color on competitive factors on the deposit side and was beginning to pick up in your footprint? Or are they still rather manageable at the moment?

Yes. I would say it's manageable. Katie talked a little bit about our regular pricing committee where we do kind of evaluations of our extensive geography and -- there's always some outlier players, often smaller banks or credit unions. -- but we're able to maintain where we want to be from a macro -- we don't -- as we shared, I think, last quarter, we don't chase stupid. It's a technical making term, but we really value our margins. So we don't price to the lowest common denominator. And there's not a lot of -- we're competing largely against rational actors in the community bank and larger regional space.

Perfect. All my other questions have been asked and answered. Thank you.

The next question is a follow-up from Daniel Tamayo with Raymond James.

Super quick one. The Durbin hit of $10 million, I think you said was before the deal. I imagine it's really small, but do you have a sense for what citizens would add to that?

It's about $1 million, Danny.

Great. Thanks.

This will conclude our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Wilcox for any closing remarks.

Yes. I want to thank everybody for joining our call this morning. Please remember that our earnings release and a webcast of this call, including our earnings conference call presentation, will be archived at peoplesbancorp.com under the Investor Relations section. Thank you for your time, and have a great day.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Good morning, and welcome to Peoples Bancorp Inc.'s conference call. My name is Gary, and I will be your conference facilitator. Today's call will cover a discussion of the results of operations for the quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2025. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that the commentary in this call will contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding Peoples' future financial performance or future events. These statements are based on management's current expectations. The statements in this call, which are not historical in fact, are forward-looking statements and involve a number of risks and uncertainties detailed in Peoples' Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Management believes that forward-looking statements made during this call are based on reasonable assumptions within the bounds of their knowledge of Peoples' business and operations.

However, it is possible actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. Peoples disclaims any responsibility to update these forward-looking statements after this call, except as may be required by applicable legal requirements. People's fourth quarter 2025 earnings release and earnings conference call presentation were issued this morning and are available at peoplesbancorp.com under Investor Relations. A reconciliation of the non-generally accepted accounting principles or GAAP financial measures discussed during this call to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is included at the end of the earnings release.

This call will include about 15 to 20 minutes of prepared commentary, followed by a question-and-answer period, which I will facilitate. An archived webcast of this call will be available on peoplesbancorp.com in the Investor Relations section for 1 year. Participants in today's call will be Tyler Wilcox, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Katie Bailey, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, and each will be available for questions following opening statements. Mr. Wilcox, you may begin your conference.

Thank you, Gary. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call today. Earlier this morning, we reported diluted earnings per share of $0.89 for the fourth quarter which is a 7% increase compared to the linked quarter. During the fourth quarter of 2025, our diluted EPS was negatively impacted by $0.02 from the sale of another real estate owned property that we had previously acquired through a merger, which resulted in an $850,000 loss. This property comprised most of our OREO balance and the sale reduced our nonperforming assets meaningfully compared to the linked quarter. We also redeemed a tranche of subordinated debt we had assumed in a prior acquisition, resulting in a loss of nearly $800,000 for the fourth quarter, which also negatively impacted diluted EPS by $0.02 but will result in future savings in our funding costs.

For the full year of 2025, we achieved our expected results. We generated positive operating leverage compared to the prior year, excluding the impact of accretion income, We had loan growth of 6% compared to 2024, and our fee-based income improved 6% over the prior year. For the fourth quarter, when compared to the linked quarter, we have several highlights to note. Our fee-based income improved 5%. Our efficiency ratio was stable at 57.8%. Our tangible equity to tangible assets ratio grew 26 basis points to 8.8%. Vast majority of our regulatory capital ratios improved. Our book value per share grew 2%, while our tangible book value per share improved by 3% and our diluted earnings per share exceeded consensus analyst estimates for the quarter, which were $0.88.

For the fourth quarter, our provision for credit losses totaled $8.1 million and was largely driven by net charge-offs. At year-end, our allowance for credit losses stood at 1.12% of total loans, an increase from 1% at the prior year-end. Our provision for credit losses for the quarter was driven by net charge-offs, loan growth and a slight deterioration in economic forecasts. These increases were partially offset by reductions in reserves for individually analyzed loans and leases. Our annualized quarterly net charge-off rate was 44 basis points compared to 41 basis points for the linked quarter. Our small ticket lease charge-offs contributed 31 basis points of our annualized quarterly net charge-off rate. The increase in lease charge-offs compared to the linked quarter was largely driven by expected charge-offs that were included in our individually annualized loan and lease reserves at September 30.

Overall, there were no surprises here for the fourth quarter as we had anticipated this rate would remain elevated for several quarters, and we believe it should start to taper off in the back half of 2026. We have significantly reduced our position in the high balance leases in our small ticket leasing business, which totaled $13 million at year-end compared to $35 million at the end of 2024. As we have mentioned before, we are no longer originating these types of leases in our small ticket business. Excluding the lease net charge-offs, the remainder of our loan portfolio had net charge-offs of $2.1 million at an annualized net charge-off rate of 13 basis points. For more information on our net charge-offs, please refer to our accompanying slides.

Our nonperforming loans grew nearly $4 million compared to the linked quarter and were driven by an increase in nonaccrual loans, along with higher loans 90-plus days past due and accruing. The increase in nonaccrual balances was primarily driven by 1 acquired commercial and industrial relationship. Nonperforming assets declined compared to the linked quarter due to the previously referenced sale of an OREO property. Our criticized loans declined $32 million compared to the linked quarter end while classified loans were down $11 million. These reductions were mostly due to upgrades and payoffs during the fourth quarter, which we had noted last quarter was our expectation. At year-end, our criticized loan balances as a percent of total loans improved to 3.5% compared to 3.99% at September 30.

Classified loans as a percent of total loans declined to 2.18% at year-end compared to 2.36% at linked quarter end. At year-end, 98.6% of our loan portfolio was considered current compared to 99% at September 30. Moving on to loan balances. We achieved the top end of our previous guidance with full year loan growth of 6% compared to 2024. For the fourth quarter of 2025, we had annualized loan growth of 2% compared to the linked quarter end. Loan balances grew nearly $30 million compared to September 30 and were led by increases of $46 million in commercial and industrial loans and another $40 million in construction loans. This growth was partially offset by declines in premium finance loans, leases and residential real estate loans.

Last quarter, we mentioned our loan growth would be tempered during the fourth quarter and possibly into the first quarter of 2026 due to anticipated payoffs. We had a near record quarter of commercial loan production which offset some of the payoffs we experienced while some of the expected payoffs have shifted into the first and second quarters of 2026. At quarter end, our commercial real estate loans comprised 35% of total loans, 33% of which were owner occupied, while the remainder were investment real estate. At quarter end, 44% of our total loans were fixed rate, with the remaining 56% at a variable rate. I will now turn the call over to Katie for a discussion of our financial performance.

Thanks, Tyler. For the fourth quarter, our net interest income was relatively flat when compared to the linked quarter, while our net interest margin declined 4 basis points. We were able to mostly offset declines in our investment and loan income by closely managing our funding costs. Our net interest margin was negatively impacted by lower loan yields, which declined 17 basis points, while our overall funding costs declined 10 basis points. Our accretion income for the quarter totaled $1.8 million compared to $1.7 million for the linked quarter and contributed 8 basis points to net interest margin for both periods. For the full year of 2025, our net interest income improved 2% compared to 2024, while our net interest margin declined 7 basis points.

Our lower net interest margin was driven by declines in our accretion income which totaled $9.6 million for 2025 and contributed 11 basis points to margin compared to $25.2 million and 30 basis points to margin for 2024. Excluding accretion income, our net interest income grew over $22 million while our net interest margin expanded 12 basis points. We made a move in October to pay off subordinated debt we had previously acquired from Limestone as we could secure financing at half the cost through FHLB advances and brokered CDs. The subordinated debt was being carried at a rate of around 8.5%. This should result in annual savings of around $1 million with the tangible book value earn-back period on the transaction coming in at less than 1 year.

From a total balance sheet perspective, we continue to position ourselves in a relatively neutral interest rate risk position and we'll continue to monitor market interest rates, taking action to reduce our deposit costs if rates move lower. As it relates to our fee-based income, we had a 5% increase compared to the linked quarter. The improvement was due to higher lease income in deposit account service charges as well as mortgage banking and trust and investment income. Compared to the full year of 2024, our fee-based income grew 6% largely due to higher lease income and trust and investment income. Our net interest expenses were up 2% compared to the linked quarter. This increase was due to higher operating lease expense which was more than offset by our higher fee-based lease income, coupled with higher sales and incentive-based compensation related to our production and performance.

For the full year, total noninterest expense grew 3% compared to 2024. The increase was due to higher salaries and employee benefit costs. coupled with increased data processing and software expenses. Our reported efficiency ratio was 57.8% for the fourth quarter and was 57.1% for the linked quarter. The increase in our ratio was mostly due to higher lease expense and sales-based incentive compensation. For the full year of 2025, our reported efficiency ratio was 58.7% compared to 58% for 2024. The higher efficiency ratio was largely due to the impact of lower accretion income coupled with higher noninterest expense compared to the prior year. For the full year of 2025 compared to 2024, we generated positive operating leverage, excluding accretion income. This measure compares our total revenue growth, excluding gains and losses to our total expense growth over the same period.

Looking at our balance sheet at year-end, our investment portfolio as a percent of total assets was 20.5% at year-end, which was flat compared to September 30. Our loan-to-deposit ratio continued to be around 89%, which was in line with the linked quarter end as well as the prior year-end. Our deposit balances decreased $22 million compared to the linked quarter end. The decline was mostly due to reductions in governmental deposits, which were down $30 million while our retail CDs were down $25 million. These declines were partially offset by higher interest-bearing demand accounts, which grew $24 million and noninterest-bearing deposits which were up over $9 million.

Compared to the prior year, total deposits, excluding brokered CDs, increased nearly $160 million with noninterest-bearing deposits contributing $38 million of the growth. Our demand deposits as a percent of total deposits were 35% at year-end compared to 34% for the linked quarter end. Our noninterest-bearing deposits to total deposits were flat at 20% at both year-end and the linked quarter end. Our deposit composition was 78% in retail deposits, which includes small businesses and 22% in commercial deposit balances. Moving on to our capital position. Most of our regulatory capital ratios improved compared to the linked quarter end as improved earnings more than offset dividends paid and risk-weighted asset growth. Our Common Equity Tier 1 and Tier 1 capital ratios both grew by 18 basis points. Our total risk-based capital ratio was relatively flat, but was directly related to the redemption of our subordinated debt which classified, which qualifies as Tier 2 capital.

Our tangible equity to tangible asset ratio improved 26 basis points to 8.8% at year-end compared to 8.5% at September 30. Our book value per share grew to $33.78 while our tangible book value per share improved to $22.77 Finally, I will turn the call over to Tyler for his closing comments.

Thank you, Katie. To recap 2025, our results for the year fell within our guided ranges, while we continue to make meaningful investments in our infrastructure. We made it a point in recent years to heavily focus on our technological capabilities and have continued on this path during the last year. We implemented state-of-the-art software programs, most of which integrate with each other and provide a more cohesive environment for our associates between lines of business and closely connecting the front line with our operational groups. We have automated many manual processes, increasing efficiencies and oversight of functions. Each year, we strive to be a great employer with a proven culture that has far-reaching impacts. The fifth year in a row we received recognition from American Banker's Best Banks to Work For, which has only been achieved by 1% of the banks in the United States.

We have invested our time and resources into our talent which we continue to develop over the last year. We have made some key hires in certain areas, which will help us grow and expand our businesses while adding expertise to our existing groups. Earlier this morning, we announced the planned retirement of Doug Wyatt, our Chief Commercial Banking Officer. Doug joined us nearly a decade ago and has been instrumental in our diversified commercial loan growth, putting together a world-class commercial banking team and has done so while improving our credit profile. Stepping into Doug's role will be Ron Maczka, who joined us in September and has over 30 years of experience serving middle market companies throughout the markets we serve. Ron will perpetuate and expand the proven commercial strategy that Doug helped us establish.

During the year, we have also focused on solidifying the strategies and targets around our small ticket leasing business including originating higher-quality credit tiers while tightening the credit standards to more closely align with our expectations for the business. This business continues to provide a high return and we anticipate a reduction in charge-off levels as we get into the second half of 2026. Last quarter, during the question-and-answer session, we discussed the timing around when we anticipated exceeding $10 billion in assets. And I would like to provide more clarity around that discussion. Absent any actions taken by us, we expect we would cross that threshold in 2027. However, we currently have no plans to go over that threshold organically as we do have several levers we can pull to manage the size of our balance sheet.

For example, we typically target our investment portfolio as a percent of assets of between 18% and 20%. While we are slightly over that now, we can allow principal paydowns on the portfolio to generate meaningful rundown of that portfolio in the near term. We also have the flexibility to absorb smaller restructures as needed to shrink the balance sheet. Therefore, we do not plan to actually cross $10 billion in assets, absent any acquisition activity. As it relates to 2026, here are our expectations, which excludes the impact of noncore expenses, we expect to achieve positive operating leverage for 2026 compared to 2025. We anticipate our net interest margin will be between 4% and 4.2% for the full year of 2026, which includes 125 basis point rate cut. Each 25 basis point reduction in rates from the Federal Reserve is expected to result in a 3 to 4 basis point decline in our net interest margin for the full year.

We believe our quarterly fee-based income will range between $28 million and $30 million. Our first quarter fee-based income is typically elevated as it includes annual performance-based insurance commissions. We expect quarterly total noninterest expense to be between $72 million and $74 million for the second, third and fourth quarters of 2026. With the first quarter of 2026 being higher due to the annual expenses we typically recognized during the first quarter of each year. We believe our loan growth will be between 3% and 5% compared to 2025, which is dependent on the timing of paydowns on our portfolio which could fluctuate given changes in interest rates and the timing of payoffs. We anticipate a slight reduction in our net charge-offs for 2026 compared to 2025, which we expect to positively impact provision for credit losses excluding any changes in the economic forecasts. I am optimistic about our projected results for 2026, and we will continue to look for opportunities to become more efficient and position ourselves to drive increasing shareholder value. This concludes our commentary, and we will open the call for questions. Once again, this is Tyler Wilcox, and joining me for the Q&A session is Katie Bailey, our Chief Financial Officer. I will now turn the call back into the hands of our call facilitator.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question today is from Jeff Rulis with D.A. Davidson.

Just a question on the margin guide. I appreciate that range. I guess, is that safe to assume the accretion benefit within that guide is, call it, 6 to 8 basis points for the full year. Is that fair?

I think 8 is the highest it would be, I think, in the fourth quarter, that's what it was. I expect that to come down as we proceed through the year. So I would say closer to 5 -- around 5 for the full year. .

Got it. And Katy, while I have you on the tax rate, any expectations to kind of step down in the fourth quarter, but I guess, looking forward, any range you'd expect?

Yes. A couple of thoughts just as it relates to the fourth quarter. So as we noted, we did participate in a tax credit of about $650,000 in the fourth quarter. The other component in the fourth quarter is annual true-ups that we do as we finalize our prior year tax return. So I think that took us to about a 21% rate for '25, again about 50 basis point benefit from the tax credit. So that would get us up to 21.5% on a kind of run rate perspective for '25. And I think you can expect that in probably in the 22% range for '26 as we move forward. .

Great. And then maybe just a last one on the loan demand. It sounded pretty encouraging. And I guess, pretty good year in '25 and I guess, expecting something inside of that in '26 and it sounded like a little of that's timing on paydowns. Maybe if you could just flesh out a little bit more expectations on the production side as that sounds like that's increasingly positive, at least from the tone.

Yes, Jeff, thanks for that question. We're very encouraged by the loan growth that we've seen. If there's a downside, it's the expectation of payoffs in a declining rate environment, a very small portion of that maybe due to we're going to be selling more of our mortgage production. But overall, especially on the commercial side, we have seen incredible demand and incredible execution by our team, particularly led by the commercial team and on the C&I side. And we expect that to continue into this year as we think about favorable tax policy and adding new bankers, we've consistently added new talent.

I think I've talked about that on our call over time. the aggregate incremental value of all this talent, we continue to add and are able to attract because of some of those things we talk about in building the culture, I think this is all paying off in that regard. A lot of optimism there.

The next question is from Brendan Nosal with Hovde Group.

Maybe just to kick things off your, Tyler, in light of your comments around $10 billion and not winding the cross organically. Can you just take a minute to refresh us on your own view of the M&A environment both at large as well as for PEBO and just remind us of the criteria you folks have internally from deals at this point, whether it's a size range or geographic preference? .

Certainly. There's a lot to say there. Obviously, there's been a lot of high-profile M&A. We -- we enjoy when the large regionals engage in M&A because it allows us to attract talent and clients from some of the disruption. And so I think we'll continue to see some of that. As it relates to our outlook, I'm going to bore you and say some of the same things I've been saying for probably over a year. First of all, I'll start with my mantra of strategic patients. We continue to evaluate a number of opportunities. And where we evaluate them is generally 1a priority would be within our existing footprint, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia. Adjacent states that we would consider would be Pennsylvania, Indiana, Tennessee, and we continue to have conversations with banks throughout all of those regions.

We have a size preference, although it is not an exclusive preference, a size preference of larger deals being a bit easier to kind of execute all in 1 chunk. So in the $3 billion to $5 billion range would be ideal. The alternative, I would say, though, is increasingly become viable due to the regulatory environment where the expected approval timing of deals is more favorable. And I have a supreme degree of confidence in the history of our team which includes multiple years where we did multiple deals. So we do hold out the possibility that small deals or 3 small deals over a reasonable time frame are viable as a path forward, and we will -- we have and will continue to consider those.

So again, but I'll take you back to where we started with patience and discipline, and we desire nothing more than to ensure that our shareholders understand the strategic vision of where we're going and that we stay within disciplined metrics in terms of earn-back, and we are optimistic about our ability to do that, whether it's in months or longer.

Fantastic color. It's always good to get your latest thoughts or you do get the question each quarter. Maybe switching gears here to North Star. Can you just update us on kind of the plateau that you guys have been speaking about for the past couple of quarters of losses not improving for a while before you get that step down. It feels like that plateau is a little bit longer than you may have thought like 3 or 6 months ago. So just kind of curious what your you're seeing there and kind of what benchmarks will be on the ad side should be looking for to make sure progress is taking place there.

Yes, Brendan, as we mentioned in the script, the -- a slight increase is, I would call it, quarter-over-quarter in the dollars of charge-offs in that business. and that's largely related to 2 high balance accounts that we had already identified and individually analyzed and had reserved for. So I think our predictability, I would go back to this entire year. I believe we've been giving guidance that the second half of 2026 is when we expect that plateau to begin to decline. And that's exactly what we're seeing. So do I like the charge-offs being where they are at that plateau? I do not. We've talked pretty extensively about the discipline that we've exercised on credit. And if nothing else, you can certainly see that in the overall balances dropping in that portfolio, which stands at $133 million today. That's by design. But I am optimistic about that business over the long term. We have added new credit-conscious growth-oriented leadership in that business that we're very optimistic and I would say, Brendan, to this year, with North Star Leasing represents kind of a systematic collections, credit and production overhaul of what we believe is a long-term sound and lucrative business so that it delivers what we want on a risk-adjusted return basis for our shareholders.

So yes, you'll see from a dollar perspective, you'll see first and second quarter, somewhere consistent with the dollars charged off this year. And then again, we have a very good handle on the vintages and those high-balance accounts. And both of those continue to decline as predicted and as designed. So we are optimistic about the future with that business.

The next question is from Daniel Tamayo with Raymond James.

Katie, maybe kind of looking at your commentary around positive operating leverage. I think that was intended to be taken absent rate cuts. Do you think you can get to positive operating leverage with a rate cut or 2 in '26?

So that -- the guidance includes a 25 basis point cut in '26, as we mentioned, in the prepared remarks. So yes, we do believe with a 25 basis point cut, we can get to positive operating leverage in '26.

Yes. Well, fair enough. Sorry about that. The -- I guess what's the biggest threat to that in terms of the levers that we'll get there? Is it margin contraction on a core basis? Is it fee income not hitting your targets expenses? Obviously, it would be some combination of all 3, but how do you think about what might be the biggest risk to achieving that?

Yes. I mean I think we stand there and we feel pretty good about our budget or our expectations for '26. I mean, I think your point is it could be in any of those I don't know that I can say one is more likely or ways on more heavily.

Expenses is obviously the 1 that is most controllable, and we have shown over the past years, the ability to pivot on expenses relative to where we're tracking, and we will obviously continue to pull that lever as we need to. .

Okay. Maybe asking a different question, but kind of zeroing in on the margin a bit. With the movement happening in the first quarter with the sub debt redemption and then the rate cut, you gave obviously some comments earlier and some guidance on the margin for the year. But if we stripped out the accretion number, the 8 basis points in the fourth quarter to get to that 404, how do you think about just the pace of the margin moving through the year as we go?

I mean I think it depends on when the rate cuts happen. I think we quantified in a -- every 25 basis point cut will see compression of about 2 to 3 basis points in the margin. So I think that will play a factor. I think it's the mix of the loan growth and when it happens, will also drive the margin. So I think it will be fairly stable over time. But if we have big payoffs in a quarter or a big production in a quarter, we could get some lift faster or slower than anticipated.

Okay. So fairly stable kind of ex rate cuts would be the way you're thinking about it on a core basis. Okay. I mean is that -- you hit on the -- I guess, what's top of mind to me is the reduction in the small ticket leasing, obviously, high-yield stuff, which is impacting the margin longer term, but you've got the offset on the fixed rate loans or pricing. Is that -- do you think that offsets ultimately over time? Or is there more on 1 side of that equation that you think could drive -- I mean, I guess I'm probably thinking it would be on the leasing, the remix. But I mean, is that -- do you think that drives any kind of contraction over time as that plays out?

Well, I think we have some expectations of the North Star leasing portfolio over time. I think what you've seen is that has been shrinking a bit as we've kind of rightsized the portfolio, the credit metrics experienced the charge-offs. So as -- and that's not a very professional term, but a big juice to margin when you're putting on those types of rates even at small balances. So to the extent we can see some recovery in that production in '26, I think that adds some true value to the margin on a go forward. We're not expecting that right off the bat. But over time, we do expect that to recover on the production side within the credit profile that we've set for that business on a go forward. .

The next question is from Tim Switzer with KBW.

Quick follow-up on the margin discussion here. If we get more than, say, 2 rate cuts in '26, which I think is what the market has priced in right now. If we get more than 2 rate cuts. Do you think the NIM can end the year above that 4% level you gave? Or do you think you'd maybe push a little bit below that?

I think we can still end above the 4%. I think it's -- as I'm going to state the obvious, it's dependent on timing of all of that, if all the rate cuts happen in March and the loan -- the production doesn't kind of happen in the early part of the year that could compress it for a period of time. But I think for the total year, we could still end above the 4%.

Okay. That's helpful. And I appreciate all the color you've given on NorthStar Leasing. Given your modeling kind of flattish charge-offs for the first half of the year and then it starts to moderate down. What does that mean for the provision? If you already have charge-offs embedded within the reserve right there. Are we able to stick around the levels we saw in the second half of '25 rather than it being a little bit higher like we saw in the first half of the year. .

We do. We expect a lower provision as the year goes on. As we said in the script, kind of absent any economic indicators should -- our model obviously drives some of that as well should unemployment spike or other economic news like that, that would temper that. But on a core basis, yes, we feel well provisioned for the expected losses in those businesses.

Okay. That's helpful. And then sorry if you already answered this, but are there any other capital actions being contemplated beyond the sub debt pay down? .

Nothing outside of our history of what we've been active in. We continue to have a program in place for share buybacks. The dividend we announced earlier this morning with the continuation of our dividend rate. So I think it's more of the same and continued with the organic growth that we laid out in our projections for 2026.

We certainly feel comfortable growing our capital position as we anticipate, obviously, some M&A in our future. And so that gives us some flexibility, and we'll continue to balance all of those priorities. .

Your next question is from Terry McEvoy with Stephens.

Maybe a couple of questions on fee income. The insurance income was up, call it, 1% in 2025. I'm just wondering if you could talk about the outlook and plans to accelerate growth there. And then leasing income had a good year, call it, $15.5 million, Is that the appropriate run rate as we start 2026?

As it relates to the insurance, on a core basis, they had a good amount of growth. Year-over-year, we saw a decline -- a bit of a decline in our performance-based insurance income, which hits in the first quarter. We are experiencing a hardening market, which I would say on a -- if you see the market hardening that should be kind of accretive to the bottom line, on the other hand, it creates a significantly more difficult sales cycle as clients are actively shopping and carrier appetite is constantly moving. So you tend to run in place quite a bit in the hardening market. We continue to be interested in are having multiple conversations on the acquisition side, most of which are generally small in our history, but we've done a number of those. And insurance is a core part of our business and looking for ways to interrelate some of our lending businesses as well with our insurance business.

Yes. And as it relates to lease income, I think the full year number for that was around $15 million, $16 million. I think that's a good range for 2026. I think there's a couple of activities that go through that line. as it relates to our mid-ticket leasing business, they do some operating leases, which you see as the part of that fee income and then there's some end-of-term activities that, as we've mentioned, historically, can vary quarter-to-quarter based on activity of the clients and how that plays out for us. So I think the '25 expectation or actual results is a good expectation as you proceed into '26 for lease income line specifically.

And then just as a follow-up. Within the 2026 expense outlook, can you discuss where inside the bank you expect to make investments? I know, Tyler, you talked about technology and '25 talent. What are the top 3 areas of investment?

One of the primary areas is in data provision and data warehousing as we've added and increased our sophistication with multiple systems. Centralized data is a big part of $10 billion and beyond, both from our expected infrastructure of what we're trying to build and just what our -- all those systems demand. So that is part of it. Investments in kind of continued investments in new talent, as I referred to earlier, we are very opportunistic about kind of hiring the best people who become available in the businesses that we're in as well as some investments into specialty areas within those existing businesses that we have added talent with and hope to see growth from in the future. So anything you would add?

Okay. Great. And Katie, I'd say big juice is 100% of technical term in my book. .

The next question is from Nathan Race with Piper Sandler.

Just going back to the capital question earlier. Just curious to get your thoughts on maybe contemplate the securities portfolio repositioning. Obviously, you have a good amount of excess capital. And it seems like some of those repositionings have been well received in the market. So just curious on maybe using some excess capital to that end over the course of 2026.

Yes. I mean I think our most recent 1 was in Q3. We didn't do much in Q4, although we had some calls on some discounted investments we made. So we'll continue to evaluate. I don't think we have -- have a need for or a desire to do a wholesale restructure and blow through a big loss in a quarter. We've kept that to around the $2 million loss coming through in the quarter, but continue to evaluate pretty much every quarter, we do an evaluation to see if there's anything we want to move on. And again, in the fourth quarter, we didn't do it, but we will continue that analysis as we proceed through .

Okay. Great. And then changing gears a bit. Curious if the expectation is for deposit growth to keep up with the 3% to 5% target for loans this year. And based on what you're seeing in terms of production levels on each side of the sheet, if you expect that growth in both loans and deposits to be accretive to the core margin around 4.4% -- or I'm sorry, 4.04% in the quarter.

Yes. I don't think we have expectations that deposits will keep up exactly with loan growth. I think we feel better that loan growth will be a little stronger than deposit growth, but we continue to be encouraging of the sales force to seek the deposit opportunities equally. And so we remain optimistic, but I think that's will be more of a challenge. So I do think the loan-to-deposit ratio will increase as we proceed through '26. We evaluate each deal we put on the book to the margin that we have here today. And -- we look for it to be accretive or at least neutral to. So that will be continued valuation as we look at pricing, both the loan and deposit side as a business.

And we continue to invest in a number of deposit-focused initiatives, particularly within the commercial and small business banking realms that I expect to bear fruit over the coming year, 1.5 years.

[Operator Instructions] the next question is from Daniel Cardenas with Janney Montgomery Scott.

Maybe some color on competitive factors on the lending side, are you seeing any slowdown in the intensity there and what are your competitors doing in terms of credit standards? And do you see any signs of weakness on that front?

I would say we don't see craziness and that's another banking technical term. In the deal structure or in pricing, there have been a limited amount of payoffs and things we have not renewed, very limited for the year or for the quarter, especially where we did not pursue an existing loan or a new client opportunity because we weren't going to chase rate or make term exceptions. There is a high demand for high-quality borrowers and it is competitive, but we win with the people and we win with the services not to sound cliche, but we don't win by -- and our numbers would bear this out in terms of our yields and everything else that comes with that, that we're not seeing that type of competitive pressure impact us nor do we expect it to. We would rather deliver lower loan growth than unfavorable metrics in those other areas is what I'm trying to say.

Okay. And then just maybe a follow-up question on the M&A front, and I might have missed your answer if you answered this before. But -- on -- for the fee-based income side, I mean, what's your appetite for those types of M&A transactions? And are there a lot of opportunities presenting themselves right now.

As it relates to insurance investments, we are in the market, we would buy more, and we will buy more. As it relates to specialty finance businesses for the reasons for the $10 billion threshold reasons, and I mean this by asset generators. And as to the loan-to-deposit ratio, we would rather add talent to those businesses then pursue an acquisition, although we remain active in the market and considering opportunities, but those are lower on our priority list right now behind primary bank M&A, fee-based income, M&A and then passing on -- considering too much in the specialty finance area asset generators. .

All right. All my other questions have been asked and answered.

At this time, there are no further questions. Sir, do you have any closing remarks?

Yes. I want to thank everyone for joining our call this morning. Please remember that our earnings release and a webcast of this call, including our earnings conference call presentation, will be archived at peoplesbancorp.com under the Investor Relations section. Thank you for your time today, and have a great day.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Good morning, and welcome to Peoples Bancorp Inc.'s Conference Call. My name is Gary, and I will be your conference facilitator. Today's call will cover a discussion of the results of operations for the 3 and 9 months ended September 30, 2025. [Operator Instructions] This call is also being recorded. [Operator Instructions]

Please be advised that the commentary in this call will contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding Peoples' future financial performance or future events. These statements are based on management's current expectations. The statements in this call, which are not historical fact, are forward-looking statements and involve a number of risks and uncertainties detailed in Peoples' Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

Management believes the forward-looking statements made during this call are based on reasonable assumptions within the balance of their knowledge of Peoples' business and operations. However, it is possible actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. Peoples disclaims any responsibility to update these forward-looking statements after this call, except as may be required by applicable legal requirements.

People's Third Quarter 2025 earnings release and earnings conference call presentation were issued this morning and are available at peoplesbancorp.com under Investor Relations. A reconciliation of the non-generally accepted accounting principles or GAAP financial measures discussed during this call to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is included at the end of the earnings release.

This call will include about 15 to 20 minutes of prepared commentary, followed by a question-and-answer period, which I will facilitate. An archived webcast of this call will be available on peoplesbancorp.com in the Investor Relations section for one year.

Participants in today's call will be Tyler Wilcox, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Katie Bailey, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer and each will be available for questions following opening statements.

Mr. Wilcox, you may begin your conference.

Thank you, Gary. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call today. Earlier this morning, we reported diluted earnings per share of $0.83 for the third quarter of 2025, an improvement compared to the linked quarter. During the third quarter of 2025, we sold approximately $75 million of investment securities at a loss of $2.7 million, which negatively impacted our earnings per diluted share by $0.06 for the third quarter. We took this opportunity to sell some of our lower-yielding investment securities in an effort to increase our investment securities yields going forward.

When compared to the linked quarter, some of our highlights for the third quarter included annualized loan growth of 8%, our net interest income increased nearly $4 million, while our net interest margin expanded by 1 basis point. Excluding accretion income, net interest margin expanded 5 basis points which marks our fifth straight quarter of core net interest margin expansion.

We continue to produce stable fee-based income. Our quarterly net charge-off rate decreased by 2 basis points, while our provision for credit losses declined by over 50%. Our noninterest expenses declined 1%. Our efficiency ratio improved to 57.1% compared to 59.3%. Our tangible equity to tangible assets ratio improved 27 basis points and stood at 8.5%. Our book value per share grew 2%, while our tangible book value per share improved by 4%, and our diluted earnings per share, excluding the losses on investment securities we recorded, exceeded consensus analyst estimates for the quarter.

As we mentioned last quarter, we anticipated a reduction in our provision for credit losses. For the third quarter, our provision for credit losses declined over $9 million and our allowance for credit losses stood at 1.11% of total loans. Our provision for credit losses for the quarter was driven by net charge-offs, loan growth and a slight deterioration in economic forecasts, which was partially offset by reductions in reserves for individually analyzed loans. For more information on our provision for credit losses, please refer to our accompanying slides.

Our annualized quarterly net charge-off rate was 41 basis points, an improvement from 43 basis points for the linked quarter. The reduction was due to lower small ticket lease charge-offs as we had anticipated.

Our nonperforming loans declined nearly $2 million compared to the linked quarter end, with improvements in both loans 90-plus days past due and accruing and nonaccrual balances. At September 30, nonperforming loans comprised 58 basis points of total loans compared to 61 basis points at June 30. Criticized loans increased by nearly $24 million compared to the linked quarter end, while classified loans grew nearly $34 million.

We had a handful of downgrades during the quarter. However, we do anticipate some of these credits will be paid off or upgraded in the fourth quarter. The downgrades were among credits that are unrelated from an industry and geographic standpoint and viewed as isolated issues, we continue to complete our extensive portfolio reviews while recognizing some softening economic indicators in recent quarters.

At quarter end, our criticized loan balances as a percent of total loans was 3.99% compared to 3.7% at June 30. Classified loans as a percent of total loans grew to 2.36% at quarter end compared to 1.89% at the linked quarter end. Please refer to our accompanying slides for trends in our historical criticized and classified loans.

Our second quarter delinquency rates were stable with 99% of our loan portfolio considered current at September 30 compared to 99.1% at the linked quarter end. We continue to monitor our loan portfolio for impacts from the recent changes in economic conditions and monetary policy and have not identified any systemic negative trends at this time.

Moving on to loan balances. We have loan growth of $127 million or 8% annualized compared to the linked quarter end. The most significant areas of growth were in commercial real estate and commercial and industrial loan balances. At the same time, we had declines in construction loans as those projects completed and moved into our commercial real estate portfolio. We also had decreases in our lease balances with the reduction being mostly due to declines in our small ticket leasing balances.

Our loan production this quarter arrived as anticipated. As we indicated last quarter, we expected and continue to expect payoff activity to be weighted to the second half of the year. Those payoffs have shifted to the fourth quarter and possibly into the first quarter of 2026. Our year-to-date loan growth through the third quarter was 6%, and we expect it to come down during the fourth quarter but to remain in our guided range for the full year. Quarter end, our commercial real estate loans comprised 35% of total loans, 32% of which were owner-occupied while the remainder were investment real estate. At quarter end, 43% of our total loans were fixed rate, with the remaining 57% at a variable rate.

I will now turn the call over to Katie for a discussion of our financial performance.

Thanks, Tyler. Our net interest income and net interest margin improved by 4% and 1 basis point, respectively, compared to the linked quarter. The increase in net interest margin was due to higher investment security yields compared to the second quarter. Our investment securities yield improved to 3.79% compared to 3.52% for the linked quarter as we made moves during the quarter to sell some lower-yielding investment securities at a loss in an effort to be opportunistic with our portfolio yields.

For the third quarter, accretion income declined to $1.7 million and contributed 8 basis points to net interest margin compared to $2.6 million and 12 basis points for the linked quarter. Excluding accretion income, our net interest margin expanded by 5 basis points which is the fifth straight quarterly increase in core net interest margin.

For the first 9 months of 2025, our net interest income improved 1% while our net interest margin declined 9 basis points compared to 2024. Our lower net interest margin was due to a reduction in our accretion income which was $7.8 million for 2025, contributing 12 basis points to margin compared to $20.3 million or 33 basis points to margin for 2024.

Excluding accretion income, our net interest margin expanded 12 basis points. We continue to be relatively neutral -- in a relatively neutral interest rate risk position and we'll continue to take further action on our deposit costs as market interest rates decline.

Moving on to our fee-based income. We had a 1% decline compared to the linked quarter, which was driven by lower lease income and partially offset by higher electronic banking and deposit account service charges. For the first nine months of 2025, fee-based income grew 7% compared to 2024. The improvement was due to increases in lease income, commercial loan swap fee income and trust and investment income. As it relates to our noninterest expenses, we experienced a 1% decline from the linked quarter and were within our guided range. This was driven by lower professional fees, which was partially offset by increases in marketing and franchise tax expense.

For the first nine months of 2025, noninterest expenses grew $7.7 million or 4% compared to 2024. The increase was due to higher salaries and employee benefit costs, coupled with higher data processing and software expenses. Our reported efficiency ratio improved to 57.1% compared to 59.3% for the linked quarter. This was primarily due to higher net interest income for the third quarter compared to the linked quarter.

For the first nine months of 2025, our reported efficiency ratio was 59% compared to 57.4% for the same period in 2024. The increased efficiency ratio was largely due to the impact of lower accretion income, coupled with higher noninterest expense compared to the prior year.

Looking at our balance sheet at quarter end. We had another quarter of considerable loan growth, which was an annualized rate of 8% compared to the linked quarter end. The loan growth outpaced our deposit growth this quarter, bringing our loan-to-deposit ratio to 88% from 86% at June 30. Our investment portfolio shrank to 20.5% of total assets compared to 21.2% at June 30. This reduction was primarily due to our sales of around $75 million of lower-yielding investment securities, which resulted in a $2.7 million loss we recognized during the quarter. We reinvested about half of the proceeds into higher-yielding investment securities and used the remainder to pay down our borrowings. We will continue to look for opportunities to improve the yield on our investment portfolio.

Compared to June 30, our deposit balances were relatively flat. Increases in our money market interest-bearing demand and noninterest-bearing accounts did not offset declines in our brokered CDs, governmental and savings accounts. Typically, our governmental deposit balances grew in the third quarter. However, this quarter, the outflows -- the inflows were offset by outflows of tax payments. Our demand deposits as a percent of total deposits remained flat at 34% compared to the linked quarter end. Our noninterest-bearing deposits to total deposits remained unchanged and stood at 20% at both September 30 and the linked quarter end. Our deposit composition was 77% in retail deposit ounces, which included small businesses and 23% in commercial deposit balances. Our average retail client deposit relationship was $26,000 at quarter end, while our median was around $2,600.

Moving on to our capital position. Most of our capital ratios improved compared to the linked quarter end. This was due to earnings net of dividends more than offsetting the impact of loan growth on risk-weighted assets for the quarter. Our tangible equity to tangible assets ratio improved 27 basis points to 8.5% at quarter end as higher earnings and reductions in our accumulated other comprehensive losses increased the ratio. Our book value per share grew 2%, while our tangible book value per share increased 4% compared to the linked quarter end.

Finally, I will turn the call over to Tyler for his closing comments.

Thanks, Katie. We continue to develop our business organically as we await the right opportunity to grow through acquisitions. We're managing our net interest income and net interest margin through this interest rate cycle and have recorded our fifth straight quarter of growth in net interest margin, excluding accretion income. We boasted 6% of loan growth through the first nine months of 2025. Our provision for credit losses declined to a more normalized rate for the third quarter we generated positive operating leverage compared to the linked quarter.

For the remainder of 2025, excluding noncore expenses, we expect to achieve positive operating leverage for 2025 compared to 2024 excluding the impact of the reduction in our accretion income, which declined faster than we had anticipated compared to the prior year. Assuming two 25 basis point reductions in rates from the Federal Reserve in the fourth quarter, we expect our full year net interest margin to be in our guided range of between 4% and 4.2%. We continue to be in a relatively neutral position so the declines in interest rates have a minor impact to our net interest margin. We believe our fee-based income growth will be in the mid-single-digit percentages compared to 2024. We expect total noninterest expense to be between $69 million and $71 million for the fourth quarter of 2025. We believe our loan growth will be between 4% and 6% compared to 2024. We expect the provision for credit losses similar to the third quarter, excluding any negative impacts to the economic forecasts.

As it relates to 2026, I would like to give some preliminary high-level guidance, which excludes noncore expenses. We expect to achieve positive operating leverage for 2026 compared to 2025. We anticipate our net interest margin will be between 4% and 4.2% for the full year of 2026, which does not include any expected rate cuts. Each 25 basis point rate reduction in rates from the Federal Reserve is expected to result in a 3 to 4 basis point decline in our net interest margin for the full year. We believe our quarterly fee-based income will range between $27 million and $29 million. Our first quarter fee-based income is typically elevated as it includes annual performance-based insurance commissions.

We expect quarterly total noninterest expense to be between $71 million and $73 million for the second, third and fourth quarters of 2026 with the first quarter of 2026 being higher due to the annual expenses we typically recognized during the first quarter of each year. We believe our loan growth will be between 3% and 5% compared to 2025 which is dependent on the timing of paydowns on our portfolio, which could fluctuate given changes in interest rates.

We anticipate a reduction in our net charge-offs for 2026 compared to 2025 which we expect to positively impact provision for credit losses, excluding any changes in the economic forecast. We will update this guidance in January at our next call.

This concludes our commentary, and we will open the call for questions. Once again, this is Tyler Wilcox, and joining me for the Q&A session is Katie Bailey, our Chief Financial Officer. I will now turn the call back into the hands of our call facilitator. Thank you.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Daniel Tamayo with Raymond James.

Maybe one for you, Tyler, on credit to start here. I think you said in the prepared remarks, correct me if I'm wrong, on -- the increase in the criticized and classified loans in the quarter that you expect to have some of that come back in the fourth quarter or near term. Can you just provide some clarification or color on what you -- what would cause you to think that and kind of size the amount of that 27% increase in classified loans, how much of that you would expect to revert?

Sure thing, Danny. Just generally, so we expect to see -- it's a broad variety of kind of results depending on the specific credits. Obviously, we have a very granular view down into it. We expect some refinances. We expect some property sales in these cases.

Just to give you a little bit of color in the criticized book, it's largely based on three loans. There's varying types and varying sizes in the classified books, it's about four loans that comprises the increase a couple of those, three out of those four actually came from acquired portfolios, and we expect the kind of an orderly sale or an orderly exit from some of those that's timed in the fourth quarter. And so something on the order of -- based on what we know now, $35 million to $55 million in either upgrades or payoffs in that -- in those buckets.

Okay. That's helpful, Tyler. And then maybe on the loan growth side. So you've got guidance coming down a little bit in 2026 at the 4% level from what you've done recently and what you're expecting here in the fourth quarter. Is that -- is there a particular driver behind that? Is there like a paydown assumption that's increasing or something else underlying the loan growth thoughts for '26?

Yes. Danny, thanks -- soon we get some good questions about that. I would say a couple of things. one, we're maybe slightly below this year's guidance, but we're kind of in line with our historic kind of 3% to 9% where we've been. As we look out in the coming year, Obviously, we've been talking for a couple of quarters now about our -- the paydown activity accelerating, particularly in a falling rate environment. That can tend to accelerate sales of completed projects, refinance activity, investors moving projects to the permanent market. There's probably a small component of that in there of future expected multifamily projects cooling off to a degree. And maybe a touch of consumer softening on a go-forward basis as we see kind of increases in auto prices and a little bit of weakness in the consumer. I think the consumer -- I think all the data would suggest that the top 20% is driving a lot of the activity there. And we tend to bank the 80% more thoroughly. So that's a little bit of the color on kind of where we see things.

That's helpful. And then maybe last one here, just a small one. But as we think about the $10 billion threshold getting closer to that now, do you have kind of updated thoughts on when you might cross that organically?

We think that's a 2027 event. Now let me say -- let me be very clear, absent any other action. So we also think -- before we have to move any levers outside of just our normal organic growth, we would expect 2027 to be when we would face the crossing issue. And then we would have options to obviously keep ourselves under there. My hope is that we would potentially do a deal before then, but we retain the flexibility and the patience to not feel the need to go forward with the deal just because 2027 is looming out there.

The next question is from Brendan Nosal with Hovde Group.

Just want to circle back to the loan growth. This one might seem obvious, but just on the growth for this year and for fourth quarter, in particular, given that you're at 6% growth for this year-to-date and your commentary around payoffs in the fourth quarter, I think, fair to assume that spot balances are flat in the final quarter of the year?

Yes, the payoff activity that we expected to kind of materialize in the third and fourth quarter is really kind of bunched up into the fourth quarter and possibly into the first. And so we still think we have a really good handle on that. We expect record production particularly on the commercial side and record payoffs on the commercial side, particularly in the fourth quarter.

Okay. That's helpful. And then maybe just kind of circling to the margin outlook, specifically, the commentary around the impact of rate cuts. I think you're saying 3 to 4 basis points per 25 bps cut. I mean that's -- if it happens like on January 1, right? If we're getting a midyear cut, the impact would be less than that. Is that fair to assume?

That's exactly correct.

Okay. Good. I'm going to sneak one more in here. Just on asset quality, as it pertains to North Star, can you just update us on kind of that plateau commentary that you spoke to last quarter around North Star loss content and then if things go according to your plan, how do you envision lost content in that book evolving kind of quarter-by-quarter as we move through next year?

Sure. Brendan, thanks for the question. I think a couple of thoughts. One, we kind of demonstrated in our charts that the continued work as it relates to the high balance accounts, which as we've discussed kind of have correlated highly with the losses in that portfolio. That high balance accounts, your portfolio is now down to about $15 million, $16 million and continues to fall. And obviously, we're not refilling that bucket. And so the outlook for the fourth quarter and for the first quarter of next year, are that, that plateau will kind of continue in the range of where it's been specific to the North Star leasing charge-offs. With our expectation that the portfolio -- the plateau will begin to get a little bit of a slope down to it in that second and third quarter and get to a normalized rate.

Right now, the production in that portfolio is obviously not staying in pace with the amortization and the charge-offs. And that's by design as we make -- as we exercise some credit discipline and stick to our knitting there. So that's where we think we'll end up.

The next question is from Nathan Race with Piper Sandler.

This is Adam Kroll on for Nathan Race.

No problem.

Yes. So maybe just starting on the margin front, given the guide for 2026. For Katie, I was wondering if you'd be able to expand on what offsets you have to your floating rate portfolio if we were to get a few cuts in '26 and maybe what you have in terms of fixed rate loan repricing and securities cash flow rolling off?

Yes. So on -- as we've shown over the course of 2025, we have been continuously taking action on the deposit portfolio and predominantly the retail CD product that's within that portfolio. We also have some floating rate borrowings that we'll look to, to provide us some optionality as rates fall. And then the other piece of your question was on the investment securities portfolio. It's generally trends $15 million to $20 million a month of normal cash flow. And I would just say, as you probably have seen in the balance sheet, we did have some short-term funding in there, too. So that fluctuates, obviously, as does the variable rate loans.

Got it. That's super helpful. Maybe just another one on North Star. I was wondering if you could quantify the charge-off contribution from the high balance accounts, specifically during the quarter? Just trying to get a sense of how large of a driver of those accounts are as you meaningfully reduce your exposure over the last few quarters?

In the third quarter here, they were about 25% of the charge-offs. We expect kind of 30% for the full year. If you look at the full year projection of where those charge-offs will be coming from.

Got it. And then last one for me on the securities restructure. Is there any sort of earn back or any sort of metric you evaluate in your decision-making process? And is there any consideration for a larger one?

So yes, there is an earn back considered. I think we're about 1.5 years on this one. We try to quantify it also from a loss perspective, we don't want to flush through a significant loss in any given quarter. We want it to be manageable. As far as a more meaningful in size loss trade, Surely, we have evaluated them. We don't see the need by which to have to do that transaction at this point. And so we have continued to just be opportunistic and periodically look at the portfolio. I would just note, this trade also was what we would call an odd lot trade. There was a lot of small pieces in our portfolio. And so to make it more manageable in a number of securities that was part of this transaction as well.

We've done a few of these over the past couple of years, and we've consistently kept them under two years and -- kind of as a discipline.

And on the loss side, generally $2 million to $3 million is kind of our appetite in a given quarter.

The next question is from Tim Switzer with KBW.

The first one I have is there's been some noise around the market around consumer behavior and the health of the consumer, particularly like the subprime end of the market? And just given your guys exposure in both the deposit and loan side and your commentary about maybe slower growth for Consumer in '26. Just curious if you guys have seen any indications of that at all? or any changes in behavior?

Well, the good news -- let me start with the good news. We have our auto portfolio -- it comprises about $700 million, and the subprime component of that is about $1 million. So we feel really good about our lack of exposure to subprime in the consumer side. And our average origination yield on the indirect side in the most recent quarter was close to $750 million. So we're sticking to our knitting there.

I will say, Tim, that we have seen some increased surrender activity. I think the affordability of vehicles, particularly as tariffs are helping finally drive up some of the pricing is challenging for consumers. And from a deposit standpoint, I think I haven't seen any indications of increased utilization of our deposit protection services and overdraft protection services, but we'll obviously monitor that, that we'd be an outlet for that kind of activity.

I think there is a lot of pent-up demand though for refis. And if we see a falling rate environment, if mortgage rates do fall, we'd see an increase in refi activity and probably an increase in home purchases. So debt-to-incomes are kind of going down a little bit year-over-year, but we're watching it. It's -- on the flip side, our indirect losses. I think last year, we're running at about 88 basis points and this year quarter to date, there is 70. So there's -- I would say that's a result of the discipline and the underwriting.

Okay. Great. That was very helpful. I appreciate all the color there. And then on your previous commentary about the $10 billion asset threshold not getting there until 2027. If we take the high end of your loan growth guidance for '26, that kind of gets you right to the $10 billion mark. What are your plans if you have to kind of manage near in that level for a while? Is it run down deposits in the securities book a little bit? Just curious how you guys are doing to approach to that.

Yes. I think the securities book is our first place to look. I think right now at 9/30, we're at 20.5%. I think historically, we've guided an 18% to 20% range to assets. So obviously, there's some room there. We have some overnight funding and some funding there that we could help manage the asset side. So those would be the first places we would look.

Okay. Got you. And then one really quick last one. Can you remind us of the dollar amount of the seasonality for noninterest income and expenses? I think it was about $1.5 million in insurance income in Q1, but wasn't positive about the expenses.

Yes. I think you're right. On the contingent performance-based income we see in our insurance agency, it's generally $1.5 million to $2 million thereabout. So that would be the revenue side. And on the expense side, it varies a bit, and it's predominantly around contributions to employee health savings accounts some stock activity that happens in the first quarter, both with granting and vesting. So the -- I'd say that probably as close to the 2%, 2.5% range.

The next question is from Terry McEvoy with Stephens.

This is Brandon Rud on for Terry. First just quick on loan growth last quarter, kind of a two parter. For C&I loans, can you expand if there are any particular industries or regions that contribute to that growth? And on the premium finance side, looks like they were down year-over-year. So was that more strategic? Or is that just a reflection of what the market's offering now?

Yes. As to your first question, I'm happy to report that it's across a broad swath of industries and our geography. And so no particular concentrations to note on the C&I, just good broad-based solid C&I growth.

As to the premium finance, that's more of a timing issue. I think by the end of the year, we'll see some growth in that business. And as premiums increase in a hardening market, the demand for their services obviously goes up. So we're not -- we really like that business. It's pristine from a credit standpoint. So there's no kind of strategic consideration there on a reduction. It's just -- I would say it's a timing issue as to where that fell in the quarter.

Okay. Got it. second, I guess we're about a month now past the last rate cut. Can you just discuss any actions taken since then and clients' willingness to digest additional cuts and how that differs from the first 100 basis points?

Sure. So we meet regularly as a pricing committee and have taken action throughout the year, even in light of the Fed not having moved earlier in the year. And so we're continually evaluating most notably our retail CD promotional product, which I think right now is a 5-month product over the last few years, it's ranged from a 13- to a 5-month product. So we continue to bring that rate down less significant when there aren't rate cuts, but still taking action to lower that rate over time. And so we're seeing the repricing of that portfolio as that 5-month term rolls off for various clients in any given month.

Got it. Okay. And then just my last one, just from the benefit of fixed rate asset repricing, particularly on the loan side, I think excluding accretion, loan yields rose about 6 basis points last quarter. Is that mid-single-digit basis point increase on a sequential basis. Is that kind of a good rate to use going forward?

You're saying for the fixed rate, I think, specifically, so the 43% of the loan portfolio, that's what you're seeing.

Right. Yes.

I think it's dependent on the mix of the loan growth in a given quarter. This quarter, that we did not have any meaningful growth in our small ticket leasing business, which has high yields. Our premium finance business also did not have growth. They have nice origination yields too. So I think it's dependent on the mix of loan growth in a quarter and obviously, the paydowns thereof. But I would expect it to continue to go up slightly but I can't say that it's 6% every quarter. So some mix.

The next question is from Daniel Cardenas with Janney Montgomery Scott.

So a couple of quick questions. Just returning to the auto portfolio. If you could remind us what the average FICO score is on that portfolio and then historical loss rates on it?

Yes. Average FICO is 746, Dan, and historic loss rates, let me pull the right number for you here. Sorry, I'm just shuffling papers.

No worries. And maybe as you're shuffling through your papers, if you could give us maybe an update on the health of your restaurant exposure.

Yes. So as it relates to the indirect, if you -- this year, it's -- I mentioned it's tracking at 71 basis points, year-to-date '24, 80 basis points, year-to-date '23, 50 basis points, year-to-date '22, 30. And I think we've been talking about for basically a couple of years now, kind of a little bit more of a reality of decline in that book, notwithstanding the kind of continued strength of the FICO scores.

Your question was about the restaurant portfolio, size of it?

Size and just the relative cost of the portfolio.

Yes. So the McDonald's portfolio, specifically is about $389 million in commitments. The non-McDonald's is at about $128 million in commitments. McDonald's continues to be a really high performer for us from a credit standpoint. And the rest of it includes a broad variety, including some acquired loans. We don't really originate much on the restaurant side in the commercial space. So McDonald's is really our focus as we think about restaurants.

And they're showing no -- that's not causing you any concern at the moment?

No, it's been quite solid. I mean it always depends on specific operators and specific geographies. And we have had some cases where some of those moved into other buckets as we monitor and watch them. But never lost a dollar out of McDonald's deal thus far, and we have a good partnership with corporate and good outlook and good insight into the operators and understanding how they operate.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is a follow-up from Brendan Nosal with Hovde Group.

I just wanted to circle back on North Star, how much of the current reserve balance is like allocated to North Star? And I ask because I'm trying to get a sense of like as you kind of work to cure that book, like how much of a reduction there could be, whether it's through -- working through the book or outright reserve releases to get to like a stabilized reserve to loan ratio?

It's about $18 million, Brandon, of the $75 million.

The next question is from Ryan Payne with D.A. Davidson.

Most of my questions have been asked and answered, but just one for me here. On capital, I just wanted to gauge your appetite for buybacks and thoughts on M&A and how conversations have been going as we start to see an uptick in deal activity across the industry. So just any detail on priorities you'd offer as you build capital?

Yes. Thanks. I think as we think about capital, buybacks are probably -- we do have an active buyback program. We have exercised it where appropriate. Our -- I would say our priority is building up capital in preparation for M&A and kind of supporting the dividend. And as we think about M&A, I agree with you, there's a lot of conversations going on there. We have a number of conversations taking place always at varying degrees of seriousness.

But I would say we also look to be opportunistic as there's market disruption. We've had opportunities to hire employees. We've had opportunities to look at market share in certain locations. And we've also -- we will pursue the opportunity, even potentially hire teams that are disrupted by M&A activity that overlaps with our market. So in addition to just being very interested, obviously, in using M&A as the catalyst across $10 billion. But we have -- we have and will continue to exercise strategic patients. We think doing the right deal is a lot more important than doing the next quick deal. And that's kind of how we think about it.

At this time, there are no further questions. Mr. Wilcox, do you have any closing remarks?

Yes. So I want to thank everyone for joining our call this morning. Please remember that our earnings release and a webcast of this call, including our earnings conference call presentation, will be archived at peoplesbancorp.com under the Investor Relations section. Thank you for your time, and have a great day.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.