Q3 2026 Alerus Financial Corporation Earnings Conference Call - ALERUS FINANCIAL CORP

Good morning, and welcome to the Alaris Financial Corporation Earnings Conference Call. All participants are in a listen-only mode. Today's call will reference slides that can be found on Alaris Investor Relations' website. You can also view the presentation slides directly within the webcast platform. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions for analysts and institutional investors. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1 again. Please note this event is being recorded. This call may include forward-looking statements and the company's actual results may differ materially from those indicated in any forward-thinking statement. Important factors that can cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements are listed in the earnings release and the company's SEC filings. I would now like to turn the conference over to O'Leary's Financial Corporation President and CEO, Katie O'Neill-Lawrenson. Please go ahead. Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Joining me today on the call is Forrest Wilson, our Chief Retirement Services Officer, Al Villalon, our Chief Financial Officer, Jim Collins, our chief banking and revenue officer, and Karin Taylor, our Chief Operating Officer. We are pleased to be here with you all today to discuss another strong quarter of results. Total revenue for the quarter of $81 million was our highest level in our nearly 150-year history. It drove earnings per share up nearly 17% from a year ago and a return on tangible common equity of 17%. Our business mix and one hilarious operating model continue to support solid returns and continued balance sheet strengthening. These results reflect consistent execution of our strategic priorities and strong collaboration across our organization. Our purposefully built diversified model continues to deliver strong results. Return on average assets was 1.45%, and net interest income grew over 8% year-over-year. Non-interest income grew nearly 17%, representing 42% of total revenue, a level that continues to set us apart and fuels our continued and future success. Wealth advisory revenue grew 22% from a year ago, and retirement and benefits grew 7%, both providing recurring revenues with minimal capital allocations. In wealth, we are strengthening both our growth capabilities and the scalability of our business. We implemented updated fee schedules during the quarter, better aligning pricing with the services we deliver, with minimal client attrition. Looking ahead, our priorities include expanding institutional and high net worth relationships, adding advisors strategically across our market, and aligning our service model with clients' needs and complexity. Our success with business owner liquidity events and retirement participants continues to demonstrate one Alaris in action. These efforts deepen client relationships and build a more scalable and sustainable wealth business. In retirement, we are focused on optimization of the operation through modernization of technology, streamlining onboarding, and reducing manual work to improve service and build capacity. We believe the sequencing of our reinvestment is well-timed given the catalyst for consolidation we see over the next several years, positioning us for more organic growth, strategic opportunities, higher profitability, and greater operating leverage. In banking, our fee income grew 11%, led by higher swap fee income and treasury management fees. Our strategic shift towards full relationship commercial and private banking is gaining traction. In this quarter, we saw solid, broad-based commercial loan and deposit growth. Our teams won new commercial clients across all markets, and commercial and business loans are up nearly 37% from a year ago, and now represent well over a third of the loan portfolio. Synergistic deposits from our retirement and wealth businesses are 22% of total deposits, and HSA deposits are up 9% from year-end at an average cost of just 10 basis points. This provides a meaningful funding advantage, and the company continues to operate with no broker deposits. Expense discipline remains central to our strategy, and we are investing selectively in technology and growth with a clear expectation that these investments improve service, expand capacity, and strengthen our productivity. Our focus is converting that progress into sustainable operating leverage while managing ongoing cost pressures. Our balance sheet is also in a stronger position than a year ago. Non-performing loans are 17 basis points of total loans, and non-performING assets have fallen from 1.13% of assets a year ago to 30 basis points. Criticized loans are down more than 55% from a year ago and we had net recoveries in the quarter of 10 basis points. Credit quality continues to improve and leading indicators remain strong. A small number of long-term and previously identified credits nearing maturity are being worked through in the ordinary course of credit management. Reserve levels remain solid at 1.23% of loans and CET1 is 10.5%, well above our regulatory requirements. Our balance sheet and business model strength drives value creation and tangible book value grew nearly 11% from a year ago. We repurchased stock and paid a dividend, which in total led to returning over $37 million to shareholders through the first nine months. Our capital priorities are unchanged. Support organic growth, return capital to our shareholders, and maintain flexibility for strategic opportunities. Of course, none of this success happens without our people. We have a team that blends deep institutional experience with fresh energy and new ideas, and it's the combined strength of that talent across every role and every talent every tenure that is making Alaris not just bigger but better and a place where great people want to build great careers. The momentum across our franchise is strong. We remain focused on bringing holistic solutions to our clients, investing in our businesses, and sustaining a culture of high accountability and performance. Alaris remains well positioned as both an employer and an acquirer of choice. Our diversification, recurring revenue, and relationship-driven growth sets us apart with clients, future partners, and investors. Above all, we remain committed to delivering strong, consistent returns and creating long-term value for our shareholders. With that, I'll turn the call over to Al to review the quarter in more detail. Thanks, Katie. Let's start on page nine of our investor deck, which is posted on the investor relations section of our website. I want to frame the quarter around three themes. Strong loan growth funded by relationship deposits, a stable to improving core margin, and continued excellent credit and shareholder value creation. We reported diluted EPS of $0.76 and adjusted diluted EPS $0 of $.71. The difference is primarily a $1.6 million net gain on the sale premises, which we exclude from adjusted results. Compared to the third quarter of last year, reported EPS increased 17% and adjusted EPS increased 8%. Return on average tangible common equity was 17.35% and return on average assets was 1.45%. The linked quarter comparison is affected by two items from the second quarter that did not repeat. A $1.6 million one-time interest income recovery on a non-accrual loan resolution and higher payoff-related purchase accounting and accretion. We also recorded a $2.2 million provision in the third quarter, reflecting strong loan growth in the quarter and updates to qualitative factors. Excluding those items, the underlying earnings engine continued to strengthen. Adjusted pre-provision net revenue was up 17% from a year ago. Tangible book value per share was $18.74, essentially flat from June 30th despite an increase in unrealized losses on securities from higher rates and 8.2 million share repurchases and up nearly 11% from a year ago. Through the first nine months, we returned $37.2 billion to shareholders through dividends and repurchaces. Let's turn to page 16 to talk about earning assets. Total loans increased $150.5 million or 3.7% from June 30th. Commercial loans increased $160.9 million, partially offset by a $10.4 million decline in consumer loans. Growth was led by commercial industrial loans up about $100 million and owner-occupied CRV up about 70 million, while multifamily CRV and residential mortgage balances declined modestly. Production was as strong as we have seen this year. New originations and renewals worth $375 million and advances worth $70 million, more than offsetting $238 million of payoffs. Importantly, new loans continue to originate at higher rates than our legacy portfolio rate, which supports continued improvement in core loan yields. In the upcoming quarters, we anticipate a little over $300 million of loan turnover per quarter. The invested portfolio increased $6.2 million, or 0.8%, as paydowns and maturities were reinvested. We continue to reinvest portfolio cash flows at yields above the existing portfolio yield, avoiding support to the margin. Overall, the balance sheet remains neutrally positioned to interest rate changes over a 12-month horizon. Turning deposits on page 17, total deposits increased $111.3 million, or 2.7% from June 30th, primarily driven by growth in commercial deposits. Commercial loan growth brought operating and treasury-managed deposits with it. Non-interest-bearing deposits grew 53.9 million, or 7.1%, and represented nearly 19% of total deposits at quarter end. Money market and saving balances also grew 51 million. This is exactly the growth our strategy has built around. Full commercial relationships, where the clients we add on the loan side also bring the operating and Treasury-management deposits. Our loan-to-deposit ratio was 97.2%, and we continue to have ample liquidity to fund growth since we have no broker deposits on our balance sheet at the end of the third quarter. Synergistic deposits from our retirement business and wealth businesses represented 22.1% of total deposits. HSA deposits have increased 9% since the beginning of the year and carry an average cost of about 10 basis points, remaining one of the most attractive and durable funding sources in our franchise. HSA, along with non-interest-bearing deposits, now represent over 24% of total deposits. Turning to page 18, net interest income was $46.7 million, down $1 million, or 2.1%, from the second quarter, but up 8.3% from the third quarter of last year. Reported net interest margin was 3.84%, down 13 basis points from the second quarter and up 34 basis points from a year ago. The linked quarter decline was driven by the $1.6 million one-time interest recovery in the second quarter, which contributed approximately 13 basis points to the second-quarter margin and modestly lowered purchase account increase in the third quarter. Excluding those items, our core margin improved by approximately three basis points to 3.55% as higher loan and investment yields more than offset a modest two basis point increase in deposit costs. Purchase accounting accretion contributed 28 basis points to margin in the third quarter versus 31 basis points in the second quarter. Total cost of funds was 2.05 percent and the cost of total deposits was 1.84 percent. In the fourth quarter, we expect approximately 1.8 million of base contractual purchase account accretions with approximately 33 million of accretional remaining from our purchase of home federal banks. Turn to page 19. Adjusted non-interest income was $32.8 million, up 1.6% from the second quarter and up 11.3% from the third quarter of last year. Adjusting non-interest income continues to represent over 40% of adjusted revenue, roughly over double industry average. Retirement and benefit services revenue increased 1.8% in the quarter, driven by recurring annual income and 7.1% year-over-year growth. Wealth advisory revenue increased 3.8% link quarter on higher brokerage and transaction-based revenues and 22% year-over-year growth. Adjusted banking fees and other income decreased 1.5% link quarter, primarily from lower mutual fund gains tied to deferred compensation plan assets and lower swap fees, partially offset by higher mortgage revenue and deposit service charges. On page 20, Banking services non-interest income increased to $0.8 million, or 10% from the second quarter, which includes a $1.6 million net gain on the sales premises as we continue to optimize our facilities footprint. Mortgage revenue increased 4.2% in the first quarter to $3.3 million. Originations increased to 127 million from $113 million in the second quarter, and gain on sale margins improved. Positivity remained the majority of volume at 90% of originations. As we head into the fourth quarter, we expect a typical seasonal slowdown and more productivity. Service charges on deposit accounts increased over 10% from the second quarter, reflecting growth in both commercial and consumer revenue. Swap fee income declined modestly from the first quarter. From the second quarterly, as a reminder, we do not include swap fees in our guidance given their variability. Turn to page 21. Retirement and benefit services revenue was up $17.7 million, up 1.8% from the second quarter and 7.1% from a year ago. Recurring annual income grew to $15.6 million, up 6% year-over-year, and pre-tax income improved from the second quarter. Assets under administration and management were stable at $44.9 billion. Retirements and benefit services continues to be one of Alaris' most significant differentiators. 63% of revenue is tied to plans, participants, and activity rather than market levels, and the business continues to generate low-cost synergistic deposits, including HSA balances that have grown 9% so far this year. On page 22, wealth advisory services revenue was $8 million, up 3.8% from the second quarter and 22% from a year ago. Pre-tax income increased to $1.8 million from $1,3 million in the second quarter, reflecting operating leverage as we scale the business. Assets under administration and management were $5.2 billion, down a modest 0.6% from June 30th. Wealth continues to deepen client relationships across an organization and contributes recurring advisory-based fee income alongside relationship deposits. Turn to page 23. Adjusted non-interest expense was $53.7 million, up 2.0% from the second quarter. Compensation and benefits increased $0.6 million, primarily due to higher self-funded group insurance costs. Other expense increased $ 0.4 million, mainly from seasonal advertising and campaigns. Occupancy, technology, and professional fees were relatively stable. Year-to-date adjusted non-just expense is $156.6 million, and our year-to date efficiency ratio remains in the low 60% range. We continue to invest in talented technology while maintaining expense discipline. Turn to page 24, credit quality remained excellent. We recorded net recoveries of $1 million in the quarter, or 10 basis points of average loans, primarily from a $1.1 million recovery on the commercial and industrial relationship we charged off in the second quarter. That relationship has a remaining reserve of $0.9 million, or about 61% of its book balance. Non-performing assets declined $16.4 million, worth 30 basis points of total assets, and non-performings were 0.17% of total loans. Criticized loans declined to 1.96% of total loans compared to 4.66% a year ago. We recorded a $2.2 million provision, primarily driven by loan growth and updates to qualitative factors, and our reserve for total loans increased three basis points to 1.23%, with reserves covering non-performing loans more than seven times. On page 25, capital and equity remained strong. A common equity tier one ratio was 10.5%, percent well above regulatory requirements tangible common equity to tangible assets was 8.77 down 28 basis points from june 30th reflecting balance sheet growth higher unrealized losses unavailable for sale securities from higher rates and share repurchases during the quarter we repurchased 250 000 shares for 8.2 million dollars at an average price of 32.75 cents Our first priority for capital remains supporting attractive organic growth. With capital remaining strong, shareholder purchases continue to provide an additional avenue for returning excess capital to shareholders. Total liquidity was approximately $2.9 billion, or approximately $1.9 million, excluding brokerage CD capacity. Turning to page 26, our full-year 2026 guidance, and we remain well-positioned to achieve our full year objectives. We expect mid-single-digit loan growth for the full year. Through September, loans have grown 3.4% from year-end, with strong momentum heading into the fourth quarter. Low single-digits deposit growth. Year-to-date deposits have grown 2.7%, led by commercial relationships. Full year reported net interest margin of 3.75% to 3.85%. Our year-to date margin is 3.86%, supportive of favorable loan and investment repricing and the overall position of the balance sheet. We do anticipate some contraction with purchase accounting diminishing and the recent rise in rates pushing up our cost of funds. Adjusted revenue and adjusted non-interest income to grow in the mid-single digits, driven by wealth and retirement businesses. Swap fee income remains excluded from this guidance. Adjusted non-just expense to increase low to mid-simple digits as we continue strategic hiring. And full-year adjusted return on assets to be above 1.25%. As we finalize our 2027 plan, we continue to focus on generating positive operating leverage on a PPNR basis. In summary, the quarter demonstrated the strength of our relationship-based growth strategy. We generated nearly 4% linked quarter loan growth, funded by strong commercial deposit growth. Underlying margin trends remain favorable. Our fee businesses delivered double-digit year-over-year growth, and credit quality remained strong. At the same time, we continue to invest in organic growth and return capital to shareholders. We enter the fourth quarter strong momentum and remain focused on creating sustainable, long-term shareholder value. With that, let's open up for Q&A. Thank you. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone. You'll hear the automated message advising your hand is raised. To remove yourself, please push star 1 again. We also ask that you please wait for your company and name to be called before proceeding with your question. One moment while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question will be coming from the line of Jeff Rellis of D.A. Davidson. Please go ahead. Thanks. Good morning. Hey, Jeff. Al, while you just closed with kind of the Outlook slide, maybe I'll just kind of ask about that. the, maybe both the fee income and expense, if I think about those run rates and the guides, would imply maybe a step down in the fourth quarter for both. And even if I back out the gains, maybe on the fee-income side, you talked about maybe mortgage seasonality, and then you don't include swaps. But maybe on both, if you could just kind of engage that a little bit more, It seems like they're both levels would pull back in the quarter. Yeah. So on the fee income side, there's going to be a little bit of a step back there on a reported basis because we won't have the net gains from the premises again. So we don't anticipate there's gonna be any offset to that. So you'll definitely see that come out of the results. The rest of it will be kind of dependent on how the markets react for the remaining two months of the quarter and on an expense side, we're kind of thinking of things being a little bit more stable quarter over quarter. Now, I do have to warn that we do have some seasonality in our expenses. So there was some pickup in the fourth quarter, but we have some offsets potentially as well. Okay. And then maybe to hop into the margin, I appreciate the remaining $33 million in purchase accounting. Let's see. I guess, could you just tell us what the expectation for the full year accretion, 26 versus 27? If you've got $1.8 million coming in Q4, just total up 26 versus27, if we could? Yeah, approximately, we're thinking about probably around $13 million for 26 in total, and then down to about $9 million in total for 27. Perfect. Got it. I'll step back. Okay. Thanks, y'all. Thank you. Thank you one moment, please, for the next question. Our next question will be coming from the line of Brenda Nozzle of Herb Day Group. Please go ahead. Hey, folks, thanks for taking the question. Looks like long growth was really weighted towards the end of the quarter, just kind of given where spot versus average balances ended. Maybe just talk about credit demand over the course of the quarter, how pipelines looked after such a strong finish to the third, and kind of what that implies for expectations for loan growth in the fourth quarter. Yeah, Brandon, this is Jim. The pipelines going into third quarter were very robust, and going into the fourth quarter, they're looking very strong as well. As Al said, mid- to single-digit loan growth is the guidance, and we still think we will hit that. Through the course of the third quarter, we had some really good loan growth, as some examples, in all markets. We had a regional hospital at roughly $28 million in loan growth. Regional construction firm, $18 million in loans. a logistics and refrigeration company that was another 33 million in loan growth storage entity and all of these were full relationships getting deposits as well and i'll touch on some deposits while i'm talking about that we had a lot of the mid-market cni companies that we onboarded in first and second quarter really started moving more of their additional deposits into the bank in third quarter. So that was a big chunk of the deposit growth in third quarter. And you'll tend to see that ongoing when the mid-market companies that come on on third quarter should bring on some additional cash in fourth quarter. So getting back to your question, the pipeline looks pretty good going into fourth quarter, now obviously you have a couple of holidays, but we still feel we'll finish pretty strong. Okay. That's helpful, Collier. Thank you. I guess kind of back to the period end versus average question. Any chance you have the spot margin at the end of September? I think it's really important here just given that so much of the balance sheet growth came kind of past the average in that quarter end. So the spot would be really helpful to kind of just see the exit run rate. Yeah, no problem, Brendan. Both on a reported basis and court basis, we're just looking down a couple basis points for the end of September. Got it. Or is that for the full month or for the 930? For the full months, 930 is as reported, as you can see, but that spot right then at the end September will be down. Okay. All right. Fantastic, Al. Thanks for taking the question. No problem. One moment for the next question. Our next question is coming from the line of Nathan Race of Piper Sandler. Yeah. Hi, everyone. Good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. Just going back to the margin discussion, Al, I was hoping that you could just update us in terms of kind of the short-term rate sensitivity that you have on both sides of the balance sheet in terms of kind of floating rate loans and kind of where your index deposits are and kind of what beta you're expecting on those index deposits going forward to the extent we get a tax going forward? Yeah, no problem. In terms of loan yields right now, we're still continuing to put it on loan yields that are above our legacy portfolio yields rightnow, so that should still be accretive to overall earning asset yields. In termsof deposit costs, we are seeing them take up a little bit, too, given the increase in rates, especially from our money market fund side. And then as for your third question there in terms of loan beta, I'm sorry, deposit beta, we're thinking about 50%. Okay. And I'm sorry, all the floating rate loans? Oh, and the floating rates, yeah, we are 50-50 variable versus fixed. Okay. That's helpful. And just in terms of loans that are fixed rate on the commercial real estate set of things repriced over the next 12 months. Can you just update us on what that figure looks like? Yeah. Give me a second here. I'm going to have to dig that one up. Maybe while you're looking for that, I can throw a question out for Forrest or Katie. Typically in the fourth quarter when I look at retirement and wealth revenue, there tends to be an uptick in 4Q relative to 3Q. I know market dynamics can impact that, but I'm just curious if you're kind of anticipating a similar increase, you know, even assuming some stable equity markets and just kind of any other underlying growth avenues in those lines of businesses that are worth highlighting. Yeah, Nathan, from the retirement side, I think it should be pretty steady, you know, assuming a neutral market, most of our fees are spread out pretty evenly throughout the year. We do have some that we do bill slightly higher in the fourth quarter, but I don't think it will be too material. Certainly dwarfed a little bit by the market and the 37% that's market sensitive, and that's in the retirement division. Yeah, and I'll comment on the wealth side, when I look at the pipeline, it looks pretty steady quarter over quarter. So I don't see any way I would say that there should be a big bump in the fourth quarter over the last couple quarters, specifically the third quarter. And then as of what's we're pricing over the next 12 months, we're looking at roughly about just a little under $2 billion. dollars. And Al, the roll-off yields there versus what they would reprice up to? It's going to be around 6 percent. Okay. And I'm sorry, just to confirm again, Al, on the floating rate loans, I think you said 50 percent variable. Can you just help me on kind of the proportions between prime and SOFR? Yeah, I'd say right now, in terms of prime, we have about 28 percent of those loans are in prime. Sulfur is 44%. Okay, great. I appreciate the color. Thanks, everyone. No problem. One moment for the next question. As a reminder, please press star 1-1 if you would like to ask a question. Our next question will be coming from the line of Damon Del Monte of KBW. Please go ahead. Hey, good morning, everyone, hope you're all doing well. Thanks for taking my questions here. Hey, Al. Just to kind of circle back on the core margin outlook, I got your commentary of where the spot rate was and kind of, you know, the trajectory here in the fourth quarter. But if we get another rate hike in December and possibly one in early 2027, just curious how you think you'd be able to kindof defend the deposit pricing and kindof how we could, you know, forecast out the core margine as we progress through 2027. Yeah, so the one thing I can say is that from our ALM modeling standpoint right now, it's like if you look at a plus 100 or down 100 scenario, we barely see any change to NII. We're, you know, maybe changed 10 basis points in either direction. So that's why I'm confident in saying that we're neutrally positioned. I'll let Jim talk about the positive pricing and how they'll be handled. Yeah, I mean, we generally obviously go up slow in the market. And we stay close to our largest depositors and defend them when we go up, but we intentionally go up slow to try to protect the margin. Obviously, we'll protect our deposits, but will watch our competition, go up low, and be a little bit more reactive in this situation, but obviously surround our best depositors. Got it. Okay. That's helpful. Thank you. And then just a question on mortgage. You commented that there'd be some typical seasonality here in the fourth quarter, but just curious how pipelines are looking just given the challenges in the overall mortgage market with the 30-year, for example, stubbornly staying over 7%. Just curious if you think there could be a little bit more weakness because of that dynamic. That's a good question, Damon. I think there may be just a little more weakness from that dynamic I mean, we're going into a seasonally tougher time for us in mortgage this time of the year, and then also two rates going up, and we saw 30-year mortgages take up over 7% briefly. I mean I am hearing that we are seeing a slowdown. There's definitely a slow down. The pipelines are definitely lighter, but if you look at our mortgage team and the experience they have, they definitely have deep, deep referral networks. so it is a slow market it's going to be a slow market it is going to be light pipelines but because we have experienced staff at least they have pipelines and there we will be able to pull some volume for sure right and damon got it we see a good pickup here in our probably march to april pipelines too that's when we seasonality start picking up so i'll have a better answer for you on the rebound got it okay that's helpful and then one more if i could squeeze it in um you know the provision as you as you noted this quarter reflective of the strong growth. So in order to kind of hit that mid-single-digit full-year growth, it looks like we're probably in the, you know, probably double-digits range for the fourth quarter. So should we expect the provision to be kind of in that $2 million range just to be adequately reserved for this new growth? Yeah, Damon, this is Karin. I can take that. As Al mentioned, we had some adjustments to our Q factors as a result of our annual review of our model. And so new growth coming in will likely be in the 1.15% range. In addition, Katie, in her opening comments, mentioned that we're approaching maturity in a couple long-term workout deals really early in negotiation, but we could see some specific reserves on one or both of those deals. Okay. Okay, great. Very helpful. That's all that I had. Thank you very much. Thanks, David. One moment for the next question, please. The next question is coming from the line of Ken Colhut of Raymond James. Please go ahead. Hi. Good morning, everybody. Thanks for taking my questions. Maybe sticking with credit, you know, it was another great quarter, declining MPAs, declining criticized loans. I'm WONDERING HOW WE SHOULD APPROACH NEAR TERM CHARGE OFF EXPECTATIONS RELATIVE TO THE LONG TERM AVERAGE WHICH IS I GUESS IN THE MID TO HIGH 20 BASE POINT RANGE? SURE, KEN. THIS IS KAREN. FOR THIS QUARTER, WE WOULD CONTINUE TO EXPECTS LOWER CHARGE OFF THAN WE'VE HAD IN THE PREVIOUS QUARters THIS YEAR. AND THEN GOING INTO NEXT YEAR, WE'LL HAVE A FAIRLY CLEAN PORTFOLIO. AGAIN, WE HAVE THOSE COUPLE DEALS I JUST MENTIONED. that could carry some charge-offs, but it's a little bit early to talk about that range. You know, I think long-term, right now we're at the low end of our metrics in terms of asset quality, right, the low-end of normal, so we'll, you know, we'll see that creep back up a little bit, and I think that early in the year next year will be lower than historical, but we'll start to move towards that in the second half. Great. Thank you for that caller. And then maybe a question for Katie. You guys have been repurchasing about 250,000 shares per quarter pretty consistently this year. I'm just wondering if that's an appropriate run rate to assume going forward, you know, given the new repurchase authorization during the quarter? You know, our capital priorities remain pretty consistent with where we've been. So, as we've discussed in previous calls, it's number one, it is organic growth across the banking franchise, commercial and private banking in particular. We continue to reinvest back into the company, certainly. Our dividend is a big part of our history. That remains a priority. You know, we continue to want to maintain flexibility for strategic opportunities. We've been very disciplined around M&A, but we also know that we've got a very differentiated business model, which I think gives a potential partner a great value proposition. We obviously, the shareholders of POM Federal have experienced that in terms of the combined upside. That being said, from an acquisition standpoint, we're going to remain selective and disciplined and are not looking to do a deal for deal's sake or get bigger for bigger's sake. And then that leads us to the buyback, which as we have capital beyond those needs, we will continue to return that capital to shareholders through opportunistic share repurchases. So there isn't really a defined plan. We're analyzing and evaluating our opportunities on an ongoing basis and making the selections which we think deliver the best returns for our shareholders at the time and just are very fortunate to be in a great position to allow that flexibility and think it gives us a real competitive advantage. Great. Thank you for the color. That's it for me. Thanks, Ken. Thank you. And this does conclude today's Q&A session. I would now like to call, turn the call back over to Katie for closing remarks. Please go ahead. Thank you, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. And thank you to our shareholders, our analysts, our directors for your continued confidence and support. Most importantly, we want to thank our team members across Alaris. These results are an absolute reflection of your talent, your commitment to our clients, and the way we all work together as one Alaris, and you are all the reason that we are very different. Our foundation is solid, our team is engaged, our modeling is, our model is delivering, and we are going to continue to invest in our company, our people, our tech, our growth. We're confident in how Alaris is well positioned to keep creating long-term value for our clients and our communities and our shareholders. Thank you again, everyone, for joining us today. This does conclude today's conference. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.