Sterling Bancshares Inc. in Houston said Tuesday that its fourth-quarter earnings rose 4.3% from a year earlier, to $13.4 million.

Buoyed by strong loan and deposit growth, Enterprise Financial Services Corp. in St. Louis reported Tuesday that its fourth-quarter profits rose 12% from a year earlier, to $4.9 million.

In what would be the first acquisition in its nine-year history, Jacksonville Bancorp Inc. in Florida has a deal to buy the $165 million-asset Heritage Bancshares Inc. in Orange Park for $30.2 million in cash and stock.

For PrivateBancorp Inc. in Chicago, hiring LaSalle Bank's former president and 56 managing directors was not cheap.

Stung by defaults in its residential construction loan portfolio, Cowlitz Bancorp. in Longview, Wash., reported a $3.1 million loss in the fourth quarter, compared with a profit of $1.2 million a year earlier.

Old National Bancorp in Evansville, Ind., said Monday that its fourth-quarter earnings rose 26% from a year earlier, to $22 million.

Despite gains in loans, deposits, and fee income, Heartland Financial USA Inc. reported a 9.3% drop in fourth-quarter earnings from a year earlier, to $6.8 million, because of an increase in its provision for loan losses.

The day after Fulton Financial Corp. in Lancaster, Pa., reported last week that its fourth-quarter earnings fell 18% and nonperforming assets more than doubled, its stock shot up roughly 14% and has held steady since.

American Bank of Commerce’s decision last year to begin offering mortgages — for the first time in about two decades — came at an opportune time.

Its portfolio ripe with nonperforming condominium construction loans, Corus Bankshares Inc. in Chicago is coming off its worst quarterly performance in years.

FirstFed Financial Corp. in Santa Monica, Calif., said Friday that fourth-quarter profits fell 75%, to $8.4 million, from the year earlier, due to mounting losses in its residential real estate loan portfolio.

Florida's state-chartered banks are hoping the third time is the charm for legislation that would relax restrictions on selling debt cancellation products.

United Bankshares Inc. in Charleston, W.Va., said Thursday that fourth-quarter earnings declined 36% from a year earlier, to $16 million, mainly as a result of costs associated with a balance-sheet restructuring.

Umpqua Holdings Corp. in Portland, Ore., said Thursday that its fourth-quarter net income fell 61% from a year earlier, to $9.5 million, mainly because of a $17.8 million loan-loss provision related primarily to the slowdown in residential housing construction in its markets.

Weighed down by $11.9 million of impairment charges, Valley National Bancorp in Wayne, N.J., said Thursday that its fourth-quarter earnings fell 27% from a year earlier, to $27.7 million.

MIDDLE ATLANTIC

Wintrust Financial Corp. in Lake Forest, Ill., said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter earnings rose 4% from a year earlier, to $15.6 million.

Whitney Holding Corp. in New Orleans announced Wednesday that its fourth-quarter earnings fell 11% from a year earlier, to $30.2 million, because of a surge in nonperforming loans.

Amid a deluge of steep profit declines and losses this earnings season, Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc. of San Antonio reported profit increases for the fourth quarter and the year.