United Bankshares Inc., the parent of United Bank, said Wednesday its year-end earnings for 2019 were $2.55 per diluted share — a company record — compared with 2018 diluted earnings of $2.45 a share.
Diluted earnings per share is a profitability calculation that measures the amount of income each share will receive if all of the dilutive securities are realized. In other words, when the number of outstanding shares increases, each existing shareholder owns a smaller, or diluted, portion of the company.
In a statement, United Chairman and CEO Richard Adams said, “2019 was another great year for United Bankshares. We earned record net income of $260 million and record earnings per share of $2.55, announced the intent to acquire Carolina Financial Corp., our 32nd acquisition of the current administration, and increased dividends to our shareholders for the 46th consecutive year.”
Earnings for last year came to $260.1 million compared with $256.3 million in 2018.
For the fourth quarter, earnings per share were 62 cents a share on income of $63.3 million. Earnings per share in 2018’s fourth quarter were also 62 cents a share. Income for 2018’s fourth quarter came to $64 million.
Net interest income during the 2019 fourth quarter was $141.3 million, a $5.4 million, or 4%, decline from fourth quarter 2018 income.
Earning assets (loans and investments) for fourth quarter 2019 were $373 million, up 2% from the same quarter a year earlier.
United, which has dual headquarters in Charleston and in Washington, D.C., has assets of around $19.7 billion on Dec. 31. The holding company has more than 3,000 shareholders in the Monongalia County area.
The bank, meanwhile, has 138 full-service locations and 15 George Mason Mortgage locations in West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
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