WARREN — Northwest Bancshares Inc., (NasdaqGS: NWBI) announced net income for the quarter ended Sept. 30 of $33.4 million, or $0.31 per diluted share.

This represents an increase of $5.7 million, or 20.5%, compared to the same quarter last year when net income was $27.7 million or $0.27 per diluted share. The annualized returns on average shareholders’ equity and average assets for the quarter ended Sept. 30 were 9.90% and 1.25% compared to 8.93% and 1.15% for the same quarter last year.

The company also announced that its board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.18 per share payable on Nov. 15 to shareholders of record as of Nov. 1. This is the 100th consecutive quarter in which the company has paid a cash dividend. Based on the market value of the company’s stock as of Sept. 30, this represents an annualized dividend yield of approximately 4.39%.

Net interest income increased by $5.1 million, or 6.0%, to $90.9 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2019, from $85.8 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2018, primarily due to a $10.4 million, or 11.4%, increase in interest income on loans receivable. This increase was primarily due to an increase of $819.2 million, or 10.3%, in the average balance of loans. Partially offsetting this improvement was an increase in interest expense on deposits of $5.5 million, or 66.3%, due to recent increases in market interest rates, resulting in an increase in the cost of our interest-bearing liabilities to 0.89% from 0.60%. The net impact of these changes caused the Company’s net interest margin to decrease to 3.79% for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2019 from 3.92% for the same quarter last year.

Headquartered in Warren, Northwest Bancshares Inc. is the holding company of Northwest Bank.