Web Seminars

Iberiabank Corp.'s reported increased quarterly earnings Wednesday, though merger-related costs and impairment charges caused the company to fall shy of Wall Street's expectations.

The company's fourth-quarter net income rose 6% from the third quarter and 33% from a year earlier, to $17 million.

The results included $4 million in pretax conversion costs tied to the company's acquisitions of Omni Bancshares Inc. and Cameron Bancshares Inc. Iberiabank also wrote off $1 million associated with four properties it was using, and the company incurred a $2 million impairment charge tied to covered failed-bank assets.

Earnings per share fell 6 cents shy of the average analysts' estimate of 59 cents, according to Thomson Reuters. Excluding conversion costs, Iberiabank would have been beaten that estimate by 10 cents.

Credit quality continued to improve, as nonperforming assets fell 8% from a quarter earlier, to $873 million. Excluding the assets covered or impaired from bank acquisitions, Iberiabank had a 1% rise in nonperforming assets.

The $12-billion asset company was well-capitalized with a total risk-based capital ratio of 16.2% at Dec. 31.