Provident Financial Services, Inc. reported unaudited consolidated earnings results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2017. For the quarter, the company reported total interest income of $83,596,000 compared to $77,491,000 a year ago. Net interest income was $71,900,000 compared to $66,617,000 a year ago. Net interest income after provision for loan losses was $70,000,000 compared to $65,417,000 a year ago. Income before income tax expense was $35,223,000 compared to $32,750,000 a year ago. Net income was $19,483,000 compared to $22,568,000 a year ago. Basic and diluted earnings per share were $0.30 compared to $0.35 a year ago. Annualized return on average assets was 0.80% compared to 0.95% a year ago. Annualized return on average equity was 5.90% compared to 7.16% a year ago. Annualized return on average tangible equity was 8.69% compared to 10.82% a year ago.

For the full year, the company reported total interest income of $323,846,000 compared to $302,315,000 a year ago. Net interest income was $278,202,000 compared to $258,567,000 a year ago. Net interest income after provision for loan losses was $272,602,000 compared to $253,167,000 a year ago. Income before income tax expense was $140,477,000 compared to $124,782,000 a year ago. Net income was $93,949,000 compared to $87,802,000 a year ago. Diluted earnings per share were $1.45 compared to basic and diluted earnings per share of $1.38 a year ago. Annualized return on average assets was 0.99% compared to 0.99% a year ago. Annualized return on average equity was 7.28% compared to 7.12% a year ago. Annualized return on average tangible equity was 10.82% compared to 10.86% a year ago. Book value per share was $19.52 as on December 31, 2017 compared to $18.94 a year ago. Tangible book value per share was $13.20 as on December 31, 2017 compared to $12.54 a year ago. The improvement in net interest income for the comparative periods was largely due to growth in average loans outstanding resulting from organic originations and increases in both average interest bearing core deposits and average non-interest bearing demand deposits, combined with period-over-period expansion of the net interest margin.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2017, the company had net charge-offs of $2.0 million compared with net charge-offs of $405,000 for the same period in 2016.