Hilltop Holdings (HTH) Q3 2026 Earnings Call: Nettozinsertrag steigt um 9 %

Wichtigste Erkenntnisse

• Hilltop Holdings wies für das 3. Quartal 2026 einen auf die Stammaktionäre entfallenden Nettogewinn von 24,9 Millionen US-Dollar bzw. 0,44 US-Dollar je verwässerter Aktie aus. Die Gesamtkapitalrendite (ROA) betrug 0,67 %, während die Eigenkapitalrendite (ROE) bei 4,7 % lag.
• Der Zinsüberschuss stieg im Jahresvergleich um 9 % auf 122 Millionen US-Dollar. Die konsolidierte Nettozinsspanne stieg gegenüber dem 2. Quartal um 12 Basispunkte auf 3,33 %, begünstigt durch das Wachstum bei Firmenkundenkrediten, stabile Einlagenkosten und höhere Kreditrenditen.
• Die PlainsCapital Bank erwirtschaftete einen Gewinn vor Steuern von 44 Millionen US-Dollar. Die zur Kapitalanlage gehaltenen Kredite am Ende der Berichtsperiode stiegen im Quartalsvergleich um 134 Millionen US-Dollar und im Jahresvergleich um 580 Millionen US-Dollar bzw. 7 %.
• PrimeLending verzeichnete einen Verlust vor Steuern von 10,8 Millionen US-Dollar, da höhere Hypothekenzinsen die Kaufaktivität bremsten, die Bewertungen in der Kredit-Pipeline belasteten und zu einem Rückgang des Zinsbindungsvolumens (Rate-Locks) um 18 % auf 2,2 Milliarden US-Dollar beitrugen.
• Die Zinsvolatilität führte in den Segmenten Hypotheken und Broker-Dealer zu Mark-to-Market-Verlusten vor Steuern von rund 16 Millionen US-Dollar. Zudem verzeichnete Hilltop eine negative AOCI-Belastung von etwa 21 Millionen US-Dollar.
• Das Management rechnet vor allem aufgrund des Kreditwachstums mit einem leicht höheren Zinsüberschuss, wies jedoch darauf hin, dass sich die Nettozinsspanne mit steigenden Einlagenkosten einpendeln oder leicht unter 3,33 % fallen könnte.

Wichtigste Finanzdaten

Geschäfts- und operative Entwicklung

PlainsCapital Bank

Die PlainsCapital Bank erzielte ein Ergebnis vor Steuern von 44 Millionen US-Dollar und eine Gesamtkapitalrendite von 1,06 %. Die Nettozinsspanne erreichte 3,49 % und lag damit um mehr als 25 Basispunkte über dem Vorjahreswert, da stabile Einlagenkosten und höhere Kreditneufestsetzungen das Ergebnis stützten.

Die Einlagenbestände stiegen im Quartal um 500 Millionen US-Dollar, einschließlich eines Zuwachses von 100 Millionen US-Dollar an von HilltopSecurities übertragenen Einlagen. Auf Gewerbeimmobilien entfielen rund 300 Millionen US-Dollar des Kreditwachstums im Jahresvergleich, während der Rest überwiegend aus der Firmenkundenfinanzierung stammte.

Die Bank bildete eine Risikovorsorge für Kreditverluste in Höhe von 10,1 Millionen US-Dollar. Dennoch erklärte das Management, kein erhebliches systemisches Risiko im gesamten Portfolio zu erwarten, wies jedoch darauf hin, dass die Kreditbedingungen weiterhin von Konjunktur-, Inflations- und Zinsunsicherheiten geprägt bleiben.

PrimeLending

PrimeLending verzeichnete einen Verlust vor Steuern von 10,8 Millionen US-Dollar. Ein kräftiger Anstieg der Hypothekenzinsen – darunter ein Zuwachs der durchschnittlichen Zinsen für 30-jährige Hypotheken um fast 70 Basispunkte im September – schwächte die Kaufaktivität ab und verringerte den beizulegenden Zeitwert der Kredite in der Pipeline.

Das Volumen der vereinbarten Zinsbindungen (Rate-Locks) sank im Jahresvergleich um 18 % auf 2,2 Milliarden US-Dollar. Die Verkaufsmargen für an Dritte veräußerte Kredite fielen um 26 Basispunkte auf 200 Basispunkte. Laut Management dürften Hypothekenzinsen nahe 7 % und ein allgemeiner Druck auf die Bezahlbarkeit die Hypothekenverkaufsaktivität bis ins Jahr 2027 hinein belasten.

HilltopSecurities

HilltopSecurities erwirtschaftete bei einem Nettoertrag von 117 Millionen US-Dollar einen Gewinn vor Steuern von 7 Millionen US-Dollar, was einer Vorsteuermarge von 5,9 % entspricht. Der Bereich Public Finance Services erzielte einen Nettoertrag von 37 Millionen US-Dollar, was dem Niveau von Q3 2025 entspricht, während die Erträge im Wealth Management das Vorjahresquartal übertrafen.

Strukturierte Finanzierungen und Fixed-Income-Dienstleistungen gerieten durch die Volatilität bei langlaufenden Anleihen und eine verringerte Absicherungseffizienz unter Druck. Eigengeschäfte, Provisionen und Gebühren enthielten Mark-to-Market-Verluste vor Steuern in Höhe von 6,6 Millionen US-Dollar im Zusammenhang mit der Hypotheken-Handelspipeline.

Prognose des Managements

• Der interne Zinsausblick von Hilltop geht von einer weiteren Zinsanhebung um 25 Basispunkte im Jahr 2026 aus.
• In diesem Szenario rechnet das Management vor allem aufgrund des Kreditwachstums im Bankensegment mit einem leicht höheren Zinsüberschuss.
• Das Management erwartet, dass sich die konsolidierte Nettozinsspanne mit steigenden Kosten für verzinsliche Einlagen auf dem aktuellen Niveau einpendelt oder möglicherweise leicht unter 3,33 % fällt.
• Für das Gesamtjahr 2026 wird ohne Berücksichtigung der Zwischenfinanzierung von Hypotheken (Mortgage Warehouse Lending) und einbehaltener PrimeLending-Hypotheken ein Anstieg der durchschnittlichen Bankkredite um 7 % bis 8 % gegenüber 2025 erwartet.
• Die PlainsCapital Bank rechnet im 4. Quartal mit einer saisonalen Ausweitung der Einlagen, während das Management eine positive Entwicklung der Einlagen bis ins Jahr 2027 sieht.
• Die Aufwendungen ohne variable Vergütung dürften dank fortgeführter Initiativen zur Produktivitäts- und Prozesseffizienzsteigerung auf dem aktuellen Niveau relativ stabil bleiben.
• Bei PrimeLending wird für das 4. Quartal aufgrund saisonaler Schwäche, hoher langfristiger Zinsen und Einschränkungen bei der Bezahlbarkeit weiterhin mit einem herausfordernden Umfeld gerechnet.

Risiken und Beobachtungspunkte

Die Zinsvolatilität bleibt das zentrale kurzfristige Risiko. Das Quartal beinhaltete Mark-to-Market-Verluste vor Steuern von rund 16 Millionen US-Dollar sowie eine negative AOCI-Belastung von etwa 21 Millionen US-Dollar aus Veränderungen im Portfolio der zur Veräußerung verfügbaren Wertpapiere (netto nach Absicherungen).

Der Wettbewerb um Einlagen könnte die Refinanzierungskosten erhöhen, nachdem die Einlagenrenditen einen Stand erreichten, den das Management als zyklischen Tiefstand bezeichnete. Als weitere Belastungsfaktoren nannte das Unternehmen die Bezahlbarkeit von Hypotheken, unter Druck stehende Verkaufsmargen, eine geringere Zinsbindungsaktivität, Inflation, geopolitische Konflikte sowie eine breitere wirtschaftliche Unsicherheit.

Die Kreditqualität blieb im Allgemeinen stabil, jedoch stieg die Risikovorsorge für Kreditverluste um 9 Millionen US-Dollar. Das Management beobachtet weiterhin negative Bonitätsveränderungen und kreditnehmerspezifische Ereignisse.

Wichtigste Punkte aus der Analysten-Fragerunde

• Profitabilität im Hypothekengeschäft: Laut Management wird PrimeLending die Aufwendungen weiterhin an die Marktbedingungen anpassen und gleichzeitig selektiv produktive Kreditsachbearbeiter rekrutieren. Das Unternehmen konzentriert sich weiterhin darauf, die Profitabilität zu erreichen, rechnet jedoch damit, dass die Rahmenbedingungen für das Neugeschäft schwierig bleiben.
• Margenausblick: Das Kreditwachstum dürfte den Zinsüberschuss stützen, allerdings dürften höhere Kurzfristzinsen den Wettbewerb um Einlagen verschärfen. Das Management ist bereit, eine geringfügig niedrigere Marge in Kauf zu nehmen, wenn das Bilanzwachstum den gesamten Zinsüberschuss steigert.
• Dynamik im Kreditgeschäft: Die Pipelines im Firmenkundengeschäft bleiben stark, unterstützt durch die Anwerbung von Bankern und Marktveränderungen. Laut Management geht die Prognose für das 4. Quartal von normalen und nicht von ungewöhnlich hohen Kreditrückzahlungen aus.
• Kapitalrückzahlungen: Hilltop kaufte im 3. Quartal Aktien im Wert von 20 Millionen US-Dollar zurück – nach jeweils 50 Millionen US-Dollar in den beiden Vorquartalen. Dies spiegelt einen höheren Aktienkurs sowie potenziellen AOCI-Druck durch steigende Zinsen wider. Unter dem bestehenden Rückkaufprogramm verblieben 85 Millionen US-Dollar, das Unternehmen ging jedoch nicht davon aus, den gesamten Betrag in einem Quartal auszuschöpfen.
• Einlagenwachstum: Hilltop konzentriert sich weiterhin auf kostengünstige, granulare Kerneinlagen sowie Treasury-Services, stellt sich jedoch zugleich dem Wettbewerb durch Aktions- und Lockangebote neuer Marktteilnehmer.

Vollständiges Transkript des Earnings Calls

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz

Ausführungen des Managements

Operator

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to Hilltop Holdings Second (sic) [ Third ] Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand the conference call over to Matt Dunn. Matt, please go ahead.

Matthew Dunn

Thank you. Before we get started, please note that certain statements during today's presentation that are not statements of historical facts, including statements concerning such items as our outlook, business strategy, future plans, financial condition, credit risks and trends in credit, allowance for credit losses, liquidity and sources of funding, funding costs, dividends, stock repurchases, subsequent events and impacts of interest rate changes as well as such other items referenced in the preface of our presentation are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's current expectations concerning future events that, by their nature, are subject to risks and uncertainties.

Our actual results, capital, liquidity and financial condition may differ materially from these statements due to a variety of factors, including the precautionary statements referenced in the preface of our presentation and those included in our most recent annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC.

Please note that certain information presented is preliminary and based upon data available at this time. Except to the extent required by law, we expressly disclaim any obligation to update earlier statements as a result of new information.

Additionally, this presentation includes certain non-GAAP measures, including tangible common equity and tangible book value per share. A reconciliation of these measures to the nearest GAAP measure may be found in the appendix to this presentation, which is posted on our website at ir.hilltop.com.

I'll now turn the presentation over to Jeremy Ford.

Jeremy Ford

Thank you, Matt, and good morning. For the third quarter, Hilltop reported net income of $24.9 million or $0.44 per diluted share. Return on average assets for the period was 0.67% and return on average equity was 4.7%. To summarize the lines of business, PlainsCapital Bank further realized growth in core loans and deposits while expanding net interest margin to deliver $44 million in pretax income.

PrimeLending reported a pretax loss of $11 million as the mortgage market worked through a drastic intra-quarter increase in mortgage rates. And HilltopSecurities delivered $7 million of pretax income as material interest rate volatility in the quarter pressured the trading business lines at the firm.

At PlainsCapital Bank, strong growth across our markets in both core loans and deposits drove an increase in net interest income and a resulting increase in pre-provision net revenue on a quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year basis. Offsetting this increase in pre-provision earnings was a $10.1 million provision for credit loss, which brought the bank's return on average assets to 1.06% for the quarter. The continued growth in core loans at the bank was accompanied by a healthy expansion in the loan pipeline during the third quarter as our markets continue to execute on banker recruiting and focused growth initiatives.

Net interest margin also expanded, increasing over 25 basis points on a year-over-year basis to 3.49%, driven by stable deposit costs and upward repricing of our loan portfolio. September's increase in the effective Fed funds rate did have an immediate impact on the yield generated on cash, but only marginally impacted the bank's results in the quarter. We expect there to be upward pressure on deposit costs going forward, which Will is going to speak to later in this presentation.

During the quarter, PlainsCapital Bank saw an increase in deposit balances of $500 million as both large balance customers and new granular depositors provided net growth. In the fourth quarter, we anticipate deposit balance to continue to seasonally expand. Notably, PlainsCapital Bank increased deposits swept over from HilltopSecurities during the third quarter by $100 million.

While the bank did realize a $10.1 million provision expense during the quarter, we remain positively inclined on the overall health of the loan portfolio. Will is going to provide further commentary on credit in his prepared remarks. The Texas economy continues to expand and provides a great operating environment for our bank. We believe our long-standing relationship-based approach to commercial banking will continue to allow us to drive long-term growth while maintaining strong credit standards.

Moving to PrimeLending, where the company reported a pretax loss of $10.8 million during the third quarter. The dramatic increase in interest rates, specifically during the month of September when 30-year average mortgage rates increased by nearly 70 basis points, put downward pressure on purchase activity across the market. Further, the sudden increase in rates negatively impacted the fair market value of loans within PrimeLending's existing pipeline.

While we actively manage a hedge book against this pipeline, the effectiveness of those hedges deteriorates when the size and velocity of an interest rate move mirrors that which occurred in the third quarter. Additionally, the affordability headwinds faced by homebuyers, such as homeowners insurance, property taxes and entry-priced inventory, continue to stress volumes. We remain focused on the controllable aspects of PrimeLending's business, namely achieving operating, recruiting and productivity goals as we work diligently to rightsize the business to best fit this persistently difficult market. We do expect the fourth quarter to remain challenged given the combination of the typically seasonally slow period and elevated long-term rates.

During the quarter, HilltopSecurities generated pretax income of $7 million on net revenue of $117 million for a pretax margin of 5.9%. Speaking to the business lines at HilltopSecurities, Public Finance Services realized another strong quarter of top-line results with $37 million of net revenue, which is in line with the third quarter of 2025. As we articulated during last quarter's call, we continue to see a robust municipal issuance market.

As a market leader within the public entity advisory world, we will continue to look for ways to expand our product offerings and function as a full-service solution provider to our valued clients. Both structured finance and fixed income services faced a very challenging market due to elevated volatility, specifically in September, in long-duration bonds. The size and speed of this move reduced the effectiveness of our hedging programs. And within structured finance, demand for prepayment-protected collateral weakened as the market's rate expectations shifted.

Finally, Wealth Management showed continued strength across the Retail and Clearing segments as top-line revenue was ahead of prior year third quarter. Given the expectation for higher Fed funds rate, we anticipate results will remain robust through the end of the year. The volatile interest rate market that HilltopSecurities faced during the third quarter pressured both top-line and bottom-line results and weighed on the firm's pretax margin. We do expect to see continued strength in the coming quarters from Public Finance and Wealth Management as customer activity within those segments remains healthy. As we finish the year, the more interest rate-sensitive segments of structured finance and fixed income services will continue to execute with prudence.

Moving to Page 4. Hilltop maintains strong capital levels with a common equity Tier 1 capital ratio of 18.3%. Additionally, our tangible book value per share realized a modest quarter-over-quarter decline to $32.20. During the quarter, we returned $33 million to stockholders, consisting of $12.6 million in dividends and $20 million in share repurchases.

Thank you. I'll now turn the presentation over to Will to discuss our financials in more detail.

William Furr

Thank you, Jeremy. I'll start on Page 5. As Jeremy noted, for the third quarter of 2026, Hilltop reported consolidated income attributable to common stockholders of $24.9 million, equating to $0.44 per diluted share. The quarter's results reflect both the impacts of the turbulent interest rate market and the resilience of Hilltop's diversified operating model. As it relates to interest rates, the directional shift in market perspective from potential declining short-term interest rates to a market decidedly pointing towards higher short-term interest rates occurred during July.

This shift, combined with the rise in 10-year yields to multiyear highs in September, created a confluence of events that yielded substantial valuation adjustments during the third quarter period. In both the broker-dealer and mortgage segments, we realized valuation marks related largely to the mortgage pipelines and other trading assets. In total, the mark-to-market losses capturing both rate and volume impacts that are reflected in the third quarter equated to approximately $16 million on a pretax basis.

In addition, Hilltop's reported negative AOCI impact equated to approximately $21 million, which reflects the impact of mark-to-market adjustments in the AFS securities portfolio net of hedges. The quarter also included net valuation gains of $4.6 million related to Hilltop's merchant banking portfolio investments. Through the volatility in the markets, Hilltop's diversified model continued to produce solid foundational results, highlighted with growth in net interest income of $10 million or 9% versus the prior year period. This was driven by commercial loan and deposit growth at the bank.

Lastly, the quarter was impacted by higher provision for credit loss expense, led by a build in the allowance, which I'll discuss as we turn to Page 6. Hilltop's allowance for credit losses increased during the quarter by $9 million to $94 million, resulting in a coverage ratio of ACL to loans HFI of 1.07%. As is noted in the graph, collective reserves related to the portfolio changes increased by $8 million.

This increase in the ACL reflected both the impact of net loan growth of $3.6 million and approximately $4.4 million related to the net impact of risk rating adjustments in the period. In addition to the ACL build, the allowance for unfunded reserves also increased in the period by $1.5 million. The expense for this change is reported in other noninterest expense.

While we recognize there continues to be volatility in the interest rate markets and ongoing conflict in the Middle East, midterm elections and other issues that could contribute to credit risk, we continue to monitor the portfolio closely, focusing on areas that we believe may pose future risk to the bank. While at any point we could have an idiosyncratic event with an existing client, we do not anticipate any significant systemic risk across the portfolio at this time.

Lastly, and as we've stated over time, the allowance for credit losses estimate can be volatile as the computations and assessment include, but are not limited to, the following: assumptions related to economic activity, inflation, interest rates, employment levels and specific credit activities within our portfolio, all of which can be volatile from period to period.

I'm turning to Page 7. Net interest income in the third quarter equated to $122 million, including approximately $830,000 of purchase accounting accretion. Versus the prior year third quarter, net interest income increased by $10 million or 9%, driven by improving deposit costs, coupled with growth in commercial loans. During the third quarter, net interest margin increased versus the second quarter of 2026 by 12 basis points to 333 basis points. The increase in NIM was largely driven by relatively stable deposit costs from period to period and improving loan yields, reflecting the positive impact of new business booked throughout the first 3 quarters of 2026.

Our current internal rate outlook anticipates one additional 25 basis point rate increase in 2026. Under this rate scenario, we expect that NII levels will continue to move modestly higher, largely driven by expected loan growth within our Banking segment. Additionally, we anticipate that interest-bearing deposit betas, which averaged approximately 74% through the most recent rate reduction cycle, will revert to our modeled betas of 55% to 60% during any prolonged rate increase cycle.

Turning to Page 8. Third quarter average total deposits are approximately $10.7 billion, reflecting growth in customer deposits across both interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing deposits. In addition, we're very pleased with the retention of our noninterest-bearing deposits over the last year and the work that our treasury services team continues to do to serve our clients and support the growth in our commercial deposit base each day.

Related to deposit rates, both interest-bearing deposit costs and the cost of total deposits remained relatively stable versus the second quarter of 2026 levels. As noted previously, given our current interest rate outlook, we do expect that interest-bearing deposit yields have reached their trough levels for the cycle and will likely trend higher with short-term market interest rates over time.

Turning to Page 9. Total noninterest income for the third quarter of 2026 equated to $187 million. Versus the same period in the prior year, mortgage revenues declined by $9 million, which includes the impact of mark-to-market losses on the pipeline during the quarter. These market valuation impacts were driven by higher market rates, causing hedge ineffectiveness and lower rate lock volumes, which declined 18% to $2.2 billion from the prior year period.

In addition, gain on sale margins for loans sold to third parties declined 26 basis points to 200 basis points as softness in demand has led to continued margin compression. With mortgage rates remaining near 7%, overall home affordability remains a challenge across the country, and we believe that these issues will negatively impact mortgage sales activity into 2027.

With that market perspective as the backdrop, the leadership team at PrimeLending is focused on continuing to optimize cost and productivity across the middle- and back-office functions, selectively expanding our client-facing sales team across the country and optimizing our pricing to support sustainable, profitable growth in the future. Principal transactions, commissions and fees declined from lower overall trading activity in municipals, derivatives and MBS during the quarter and includes $6.6 million in pretax mark-to-market valuation losses for the third quarter related to our mortgage trading pipeline.

While the trading market was volatile and generated significant swings in value throughout the quarter, the hedging program operated within our risk management framework. And if market conditions improve, we remain well positioned to benefit in future periods.

Turning to Page 10. Noninterest expenses declined from the same period in the prior year by $7.8 million to $264 million. The decline in expenses versus the prior year third quarter was driven by decreases in variable compensation, largely related to lower noninterest revenue production at the broker-dealer and in the mortgage origination segment. Looking forward, we expect that expenses other than variable compensation will remain relatively stable at current levels as we remain diligently focused on prudent growth of revenue producers while continuing to gain efficiencies across our middle and back-office functions.

I'm turning to Page 11. Third quarter average HFI loans equated to $8.7 billion. On a period-ending basis, HFI loans increased versus the second quarter of 2026 by $134 million, driven largely by new origination volume and the funding of prior commitments in commercial real estate. On an ending balance basis, loans have grown versus third quarter 2025 by $580 million or 7%. While commercial loans have maintained a positive growth trend, the market for funded loans remains intense with competitive pressures coming from both pricing and structure.

Based on performance year-to-date, our current pipeline levels and giving consideration to expected payoffs during the fourth quarter, we expect full year average total bank loans to increase by 7% to 8% from 2025 levels, excluding mortgage warehouse lending and any retained mortgages from PrimeLending.

Turning to Page 12. Starting in the upper right chart, NPA levels have declined from the second quarter of 2026 by $2 million to $60 million and continues to reflect generally positive trends in our held-for-investment loan portfolio.

Moving to the bottom left chart, net charge-offs for the quarter equated to $1.2 million or 6 basis points of the overall loan portfolio. As I remarked earlier, we do not anticipate any systemic exposure across our portfolio, but we remain vigilant in our assessment of risk and negative credit migration and are focused on early detection and aggressive workout when necessary.

As is shown on the graph at the bottom right of the page, the allowance for credit loss coverage at the bank ended the third quarter at 1.11%, including mortgage warehouse lending.

Turning to Page 13. As we enter the fourth quarter of 2026, there continues to be a lot of uncertainty in the market regarding interest rates, inflation and the overall health of the economy. Given these uncertainties, our teams remain focused on controlling what we can with a focus on producing quality outcomes for our clients, associates and the communities we serve.

As is noted in the table, our outlook for 2026 reflects our current assessment of the economy and the markets where we participate. Further, as the market changes and we adjust our business to respond, we will provide updates to our outlook on our future quarterly calls.

Operator, that concludes our prepared comments, and we'll turn the call back to you for the Q&A section of the call.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Hannah Wynn with KBW.

Fragen und Antworten

Hannah Wynn

I wanted to start on mortgage. I know you talked a lot in your prepared remarks about the weaker activity and pipelines that you saw this quarter related to the rate environment and that you expect this business to be under pressure through 2027. Just curious how we should think about the puts and takes for this business?

And if you could give a little more color on how you are seeing the pipelines from here? And then also on the expense side, if we should expect to see continued losses or if there's room to lower that expense base and move closer to a breakeven?

William Furr

Hannah, I think as we -- we'll address the last part there first from an interest -- noninterest expense perspective, we remain focused on productivity and adjusting the business to the current market environment. So while we do expect the origination market to remain challenged given where rates are and where affordability stands across the country, objectively, we're going to focus on kind of managing expenses to a level appropriate given where we believe the market conditions are headed.

On the pipeline side, again, we've seen as rates moved higher, we saw a pretty marked pullback in overall activity, as I noted in my comments around lock volume there, specifically in the later part of the third quarter. And we expect -- as we noted, we expect that to continue. That said, the team at Prime continues to be focused on recruiting top-performing LOs across the country. We are looking to kind of grow the business very, very thoughtfully in a profitable way as we go forward. But again, it's a challenging environment. And again, we're going to do everything in our power to drive toward profitability, but also support our LOs across the country to help them generate as much volume as they can.

Hannah Wynn

Great. That's very helpful. And then on the margin side, we saw the margin take a nice step up this quarter, which was great to see. Can you just talk about how much runway you still see from loan repricing and where you expect the margin to trend with here? I know you mentioned there was increased deposit competition and you expect those to go up. So just curious where you expect the overall NIM to go.

William Furr

Yes. So I think it's -- it will be a story of kind of 2 different metrics. I think from a net interest income perspective, we are seeing and we expect to continue to see kind of positive trajectory in overall revenue there. We moved to $122 million in the quarter, given where our loan growth trends has been as well as where our pipeline for commercial activity currently sits. We do continue to feel comfortable and confident in kind of the trajectory of NII, but the growth will be driven largely on the asset side as we think about kind of overall loan growth.

I did note that deposit costs likely have reached their trough period -- trough for this point in the cycle. We believe that to be true. And as short-term rates start to move higher, we do expect there'll be intense competition for deposits, and that will drive overall interest-bearing deposit costs likely higher.

And again, right now, currently from a competitive perspective, I think largely seeing rational activity, notwithstanding some new entrants in the market that have got some special offer rates. We're competing with that kind of every day. But overall, from a NIM perspective, we would expect to see NIM level out and potentially travel a little lower from these levels from the 3.33% level. But again, we would -- we will trade net interest income for modestly lower NIM as we go forward.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Matt Olney with Stephens.

Matt Olney

I wanted to ask more about the loan growth trends that we saw at the bank look really strong. Any more color on the drivers of that loan growth? I know there's lots of disruption in your markets. I'm curious if this is benefiting some of your volumes. And I think I heard Will mention expectations of some higher payoffs in the fourth quarter. Any more color there? I'm just curious if this momentum that we're seeing this year can continue into 2027.

William Furr

Thanks for the question. Yes, we've seen a positive trajectory in our commercial loans. As we noted, we've seen about 7% overall growth. That's largely driven by our regions across the state of Texas and the good work the teams are doing there. We have seen a lot of our growth, so about $300 million of growth come from our CRE portfolio and the balance from C&I.

And so as we look forward, again, the pipelines remain robust. The activity the team is generating is robust. We do feel like we're benefiting from some of the transitional activity in the market given some of the transactions that have executed. The team is actively and aggressively recruiting new bankers to the platform, and we've been successful in that endeavor. And so we're very positive on kind of where the bank is in terms of recruiting producers as well as the activity that our bankers have been able to produce.

On the payoff side, just to clean that up, well, the outlook considers what we would call a standard level of payoffs in the quarter. So nothing outsized expected in the fourth quarter. But nonetheless, we always try to consider that in our outlook. So again, solid momentum, a lot of good activity, pipelines are -- pipelines remain very strong. Recruiting has been a positive lift as well as the productivity of our bankers across the footprint. So on the loan and deposit side of the bank, we're pretty confident about where the trends are pointing.

Matt Olney

Okay. And then I guess, shifting over towards capital. We saw the repurchase activity this quarter, a little bit slower. Is this valuation driven, longer blackouts? Any color you can speak to as far as the buyback that we saw in the third quarter? And I think you still have quite a bit remaining in the authorization before it expires in January. What's the appetite to complete this authorization before expiration?

Jeremy Ford

Yes. I think that the third quarter, I think, shows good prudence and execution by us in that, the stock price was elevated. And also, we saw rates climbing and knew that they have an implication on AOCI. So that's why we only did $20 million in the quarter versus $50 million in the 2 prior quarters. And so we're going to go back and look at this quarter as well. We've got $85 million of authorization left. I don't think we'd be able to achieve that in 1 quarter, but we will be available to transact when the window opens.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Evan Yee with Raymond James.

Evan Yee

Just real quick, I know you touched on expenses a little bit, but could you shed some more color on what drove the improvement in the nonvariable expense outlook for the year and how we should think about that headed into next year? Just trying to appreciate the puts and takes there.

William Furr

Yes. So again, as we've looked at expenses, and we've said this for a series of quarters, I mean, our priorities are these. We're looking to continue to grow our productive sales resources across all of our businesses, and that's the broker-dealer, the mortgage business as well as the bank. And I think each team and the leadership team there is focused on doing that. But in that, we're also focused on driving productivity, both from enhanced leverage of some of the technology that's available to us, but also process improvement. And I think the team has been very good and prudent in managing that over the last couple of years.

And so we're very pleased we've been able to keep our expenses other than variable compensation stable now for a series of quarters. And again, where we are is we've made -- we continue to make progress on some initiatives that we've got across the organization, again, not named initiatives, but just the work the team is doing every day, and we believe expenses will be a little lower. So that is really what drove the change in the guidance. But again, it's -- it's kind of a foundational effort every day here to drive expenses and productivity while continuing to invest in productive resources for the organization.

Evan Yee

Okay. Great. And then switching over to the balance sheet. You had solid deposit growth this quarter. I appreciate that you reiterated your outlook for 2026, but could you provide any color on how we should think about that growth going into 2027?

William Furr

Yes. I think from a deposit growth perspective, we continue to be focused on growing low-cost and core granular deposits across our business. We are principally a commercially oriented bank. And so that starts with the treasury team and what I noted in my comments around their efforts to kind of further provide quality services to our customers, therefore, driving largely commercial deposits as well as being competitive from an interest rate perspective.

We've got a number of initiatives across the footprint to grow and engage more customers and grow our customer base from a deposit perspective. But again, I think that will remain competitive and has been probably the place we've seen as much competition as anything for the new entrants as it relates to kind of some of the M&A transactions that have occurred from offer rates and teaser rates and the like. So we see a positive trajectory in deposits, I think, going into 2027. But again, we'll update that guidance as we roll into the January meeting.

Operator

We have reached the end of the Q&A session. This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.