Bridgewater Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BWB) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Nathan Race: Right. And then just on share repurchases going forward, it’s nice to see the buyback step up in the fourth quarter. Was that more of kind of an idiosyncratic situation where there was like a share block that came up that you guys just wanted to be proactive on or do you kind of anticipate share repurchases remaining a more continual components of the capital management approach over at least the next quarter or two, just given where the stock trades relative to tangible book?

Joe Chybowski: Yes, Nate, this is Joe. I mean we’re always looking at it. I think we always try to balance the priorities. We certainly outlined those in how we think about it. Organic growth obviously being our top priority. And so as we said in fourth quarter and with the moderation in the loan growth and I think the other piece to it to was — we had a goal to get CET1 back above 9%, which we achieved in the third quarter. And so I think we look at it constantly across the realm of things that we can do. And felt like it was appropriate to be more active, like you said, given valuations in the fourth quarter. So it’s something we’ll continue to always evaluate in the spectrum of priorities. And we’ll certainly be opportunistic as we’ve always said.

Nathan Race: Okay. Sounds good. And then just on the tax rate. I think you had mentioned in the release that there was some tax credits that occurred in the fourth quarter. Is that going to be more kind of episodic going forward? Or do you kind of anticipating back to kind of the 23% to 25% range, at least over the next quarter or two?

Joe Chybowski: Yes, I think that’s a good range. I think the noise, too, I think, will help with that we mentioned is the change in policy that we’ve made going forward, where there used to be this above the line, below the line on tax credits. That’s all going to be concentrated below the line now. So it’ll be a lot cleaner. But yes, tax credits are always — we’ll continue to do that. I think that’s definitely an expertise of ours to invest and also finance. And I think that will be cleaner from a presentation standpoint, but your tax rate is a range that you mentioned is right in line with how we’re thinking about it.

Nathan Race: Okay, great. I appreciate all the color. Thank you, everyone.

Operator: This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the call back over to Jerry Baack for any closing remarks.

Jerry Baack: Well, thanks, everybody, for joining our call today. We feel well positioned for 2024 and going forward and continue to see encouraging trends and our brand and our culture and our team has never been stronger. So we’re looking forward to talking to you in about three months. Thank you. Bye.

Operator: The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today’s presentation. You may now disconnect.

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