Fulton Financial Corp. reported third-quarter results Tuesday that were slightly better than expected as its loan-loss provision continued to decline.
The $16.3 billion-asset company beat the average analysts estimate by a penny by earning 20 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters.
Fulton said net income rose 24.8% from a year earlier, to $39.3 million. Net interest income rose 10.3% from a year earlier, to $110.5 million, due in part to a 22.5% decline in the provision, to $31 million.
R. Scott Smith Jr., the Lancaster, Pa., company's chairman and chief executive said in a press release that the company had steady mortgage banking business and lower funding costs, but he cautioned that "economic uncertainty continues to temper loan demand."
Fulton has been merging some of its banks since 2007. In August, Fulton said it planned to combine two New Jersey banks, Bank of Mt. Laurel and Skylands Community Bank of Chester.
