Aided by growth in its residential mortgage portfolio, Valley National Bancorp in Wayne, N.J., reported a profit of $36.9 million in the second quarter, up 12% from the same period last year.
Its earnings per share jumped 10%, to 22 cents, a penny better than the estimates of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
The $14.5 billion-asset said that it originated more than $230 million both new and refinanced mortgages in the second quarter, which increased the size of its mortgage portfolio by 19.5% year over year. Overall loan growth was a more modest 1.6%, however, as gains in residential loans were offset by prepayments of commercial loans and a decrease in automobile lending.
Though nonperforming assets ticked up slightly, credit quality remained solid. At June 30, 1.29% of its assets were nonperforming, up from 1.17% three months earlier.
