Stocks/RNST

RNST

Renasant Corporation
Financial Services·Banks - Regional
$40.72
$3.8B market cap
Claude Rating
4/10UNDERWEIGHT
Revenue
$1.5B
Free Cash Flow
$213.7M
Rev Growth
+51.6%
FCF Margin
14.5%
P/FCF
17.6x
EV/FCF
15.7x
Fwd EV/EBITDA
7.9x
Fair Value
$33.50
Upside
-17.7%

Renasant Corporation operates as a bank holding company for Renasant Bank that provides a range of financial, wealth management, fiduciary, and insurance services to retail and commercial customers. It operates through three segments: Community Banks, Insurance, and Wealth Management. The Community Banks segment offers checking and savings accounts, business and personal loans, asset-based lending, and equipment leasing services, as well as safe deposit and night depository facilities. It also p

2-Year Price History

$41.00+47.5%
$28$30$32$34$36$38$40volJun 24Oct 24Jan 25May 25Sep 25Jan 26May 26

Quarterly Financials & Projections

Quarterly Waterfall ($ M)
PeriodRevEBITDAOpInNIOCFFCFCapExCashDebtSharesROICIntCovEV/EBITDA
Est2028-Q1416.0116.5--93.6--54.1-14.61,686----------
Est2027-Q4413.0117.7--97.1--78.5-14.51,632----------
Est2027-Q3408.0114.2--93.8--65.3-15.51,553----------
Est2027-Q2402.0110.6--90.5--56.3-15.31,488----------
Est2027-Q1396.0106.9--87.1--47.5-15.81,432----------
Est2026-Q4393.0108.1--90.4--70.7-15.71,384----------
Est2026-Q3388.0104.8--87.3--58.2-16.31,313----------
Est2026-Q2382.0101.2--84.0--38.2-17.21,255----------
Act2026-Q1387.0110.4110.488.2100.193.7-6.31,217806.294.211.9%1.0x10.3x
Act2025-Q4376.496.896.879.0107.187.3-19.83,6321,05695.29.7%0.8x--
Act2025-Q3362.276.675.359.8135.5120.1-15.31,0941,16595.37.1%0.6x12.1x
Act2025-Q2351.26.12.71.0-77.3-87.5-10.21,401962.395.10.2%0.1x7.5x
Act2025-Q1255.260.352.041.5106.2101.3-4.82,093541.364.09.9%0.7x2.5x
Act2024-Q4259.658.349.844.892.188.9-3.21,923538.664.110.9%0.6x2.2x
Act2024-Q3265.0105.197.472.5-1.7-5.3-3.62,040541.961.617.6%1.1x1.4x
Act2024-Q2259.056.448.538.9-49.1-52.6-3.51,602661.456.710.5%0.6x3.7x
Act2024-Q1254.557.449.339.465.161.8-3.31,609536.256.511.8%0.6x4.0x
Act2023-Q4230.240.431.928.1100.495.2-5.21,725737.056.17.4%0.5x2.1x
Act2023-Q3243.961.052.641.879.775.6-4.01,650535.156.513.3%0.8x1.6x
Act2023-Q2214.444.435.328.6-24.2-28.3-4.11,898686.956.48.2%0.7x2.1x
Act2023-Q1221.366.657.446.1-7.4-15.6-8.22,3561,16356.39.9%1.4x3.4x
Act2022-Q4198.568.359.246.3110.9106.5-4.52,1101,14056.310.3%2.5x3.2x
Act2022-Q3184.369.860.146.6113.4108.9-4.52,049739.656.313.6%5.4x--
Act2022-Q2160.661.750.539.7143.9140.1-3.83,539544.256.213.2%6.2x--
Act2022-Q1147.754.341.533.6205.8203.8-2.04,013546.756.110.8%5.1x--
Historical Valuation

Multiples vs the company's own history — cheap or rich relative to itself? Historical fiscal years, then TTM, then forward projections (E). Forward rows hold today's price against projected earnings, so the multiple compresses if the company grows into it.

YearPriceRev GrEBITDA %EBITDAEV/EBITDAEV/FCFP/EP/S
202234.4236.8%2543.2×1.5×10.8×2.6×
202331.76+31.6%23.4%2122.1×3.6×10.0×1.6×
202434.66+14.1%26.7%2772.2×6.7×10.2×1.9×
202534.99+29.6%17.8%24012.8×1.7×
TTM40.72+42.2%19.6%2900.0×0.0×0.0×0.0×
2027E40.72+9.6%0.3%40.0×0.0×0.0×0.0×

EBITDA in reporting-currency $M. Historical multiples use year-end market cap (split-adjusted price history); TTM & forward years use today's.

AI Analysis

LLM Evaluations

Claude4/10UNDERWEIGHTFV: $33.50

Renasant has executed well on its merger integration with The First, achieving strong efficiency gains and ROTCE above 16%. However, the stock trades at a significant premium to regional bank peers (~20x P/E vs. ~11.5x industry), which is difficult to justify given rising NPLs (1.06% and trending higher), elevated CRE concentration (32% of loans), and ~48% share dilution from the all-stock merger. While the Southeast footprint and talent-hiring strategy provide organic growth optionality, the valuation already embeds a best-case scenario. Credit normalization or a CRE downturn could compress the multiple sharply. At current prices, the risk/reward skews unfavorably—there are better-valued regional banks with similar or superior fundamentals.

Catalyst A meaningful CRE credit event or rising provisions beyond consensus expectations could re-rate the stock toward peer multiples (11-13x P/E), representing 35-45% downside. Alternatively, a broader regional bank sell-off triggered by rate uncertainty could compress the premium.
Risk CRE concentration (32% of loans / $6.1B) in a rising cap rate environment, with NPLs already trending higher—a deterioration cycle could require materially higher provisioning and compress earnings.
Trend
IMPROVING
Mgmt
7/10
Quarter
8/10
Exp. Move
-2.0%

Latest Earnings Call

Transcript Summary

Renasant Corporation delivered record Q1 2026 results, surpassing long-term financial targets. Adjusted EPS grew 41% year-over-year to $0.93, while ROTCE reached a robust 16.3%. The bank successfully integrated its merger with 'The First,' driving the efficiency ratio down to 55.7%. Although loans saw a minor 1.5% annualized contraction due to competitive pricing and timing delays, a 30% increase in the pipeline supports management's reaffirmed mid-single-digit growth guidance. Deposits surged 11.8% annualized, bolstered by seasonal public funds. NIM remained stable at 3.87%, with steady core trends expected. Management is leveraging market dislocation in the Southeast to aggressively recruit top-tier talent, having added 18 revenue producers in Q1. Credit metrics remain stable with an ACL of 1.56% and low charge-offs of 5 basis points. Renasant continues to prioritize capital flexibility, maintaining a CET1 ratio of 11.25% while executing share buybacks. The company’s leadership expressed high confidence in their ability to maintain momentum through organic growth and strategic talent acquisition, citing their converted and integrated platform as a significant competitive advantage in a period of industry-wide disruption.

Valuation & Metrics

Market Stats

Price$40.72
Market Cap$3.8B
Enterprise Value$3.3B
P/S Ratio2.5x
P/FCF17.6x
EV/FCF15.7x
FCF Margin (TTM)14.5%
FCF Yield5.7%
Dividend Yield (TTM)2.3%
Annual Dilution47.2%
CurrencyUSD

TTM Financial Snapshot

Revenue$1.5B
Net Income$228.0M
Free Cash Flow$213.7M

Revenue Growth (YoY)+51.6%
EBITDA Margin19.6%
Net Margin15.4%
FCF Margin14.5%
CapEx % of Revenue3.5%
SBC % of Revenue1.3%
ROIC7.2%
WC Change % Rev5.8%
Interest Coverage0.6x

DCF Fair Value Estimate

$30.72
-24.6% upside
Fair Enterprise Value$2.5B
− Net Debt$-411M
= Fair Equity$2.9B
Revenue Growth5.1% → 4.0%
FCF Margin14.5% → 16.0%
Discount Rate14.0%
Terminal EV/FCF10.0x

Forward Outlook & Risk

Short Interest

Short % of Float5.1%
Short Shares4.6M
Days to Cover7.0
Change (vs Prior)+9.0%
Short % Float History
5.10%+0.90pp
3.5%4.0%4.5%5.0%04-3007-1509-1511-1401-1504-30

Options

Call IV (ATM)31%
Put IV (ATM)38%
ATM Spread10.4%
Call $OI (near money)$189K
Put $OI (near money)$0
ATM ExpiryJuly 17, 2026 (56D)
ATM Strike$40.0
Major Expirations2
Near-money chain · July 17, 2026
StrikeCall Bid/AskCall OIPut Bid/AskPut OI
$22.50$16.70/$20.800--/$2.150
$25.00$14.20/$18.300--/$2.150
$30.00$9.50/$13.300--/$2.200
$35.00$4.50/$8.700--/$2.650
$40.00$0.55/$4.800$0.10/$3.500
$45.00--/$1.000$2.35/$6.200
$50.00--/$2.150$7.10/$11.100
$55.00--/$0.750$12.00/$16.000
Snapshot: 2026-05-22

Forward Projections & Estimates

NTM Revenue Growth+5.6%
Forward FCF Margin13.8%
Forward EBITDA Margin27.0%
Forward P/FCF17.5x
Forward EV/FCF15.6x
Forward Int. Coverage0.9x
Model Risk Score6/10
Bankruptcy Odds2%
Est. Borrow Rate5.5%
Terminal EV/FCF10.0x
LT Growth4.0%
LT FCF Margin16.0%

Employees

Headcount2,200
Revenue / Employee$671,270
Gross Profit / Employee$399,677
2022: 2,334 → 2023: 2,300 → 2024: 2,200 → 2025: 3,000 (9% CAGR)

Institutional Ownership

Headline & net flow

NET BUYING

In Q1 2026 so far (quarter still filing), institutions are net buyers — bought 6.6% of float, sold 2.6%. 1 filer moved >1% of shares (1 buying, 0 selling).

Net flow · Q1 2026still filing
+4.0% of float (net)
Bought 6.6% · Sold 2.6%
218 filers reported (last quarter: 286)

Ownership composition

Active
41.3%(+9.4% YoY)
264 filers
hedge / family / endowment
Retail funds
Fidelity, Schwab, 401(k)
Passive
36.1%(+10.4% YoY)
11 filers
Vanguard, iShares, SPDR
Market makers
0.5%(+0.3% YoY)
6 filers
Citadel, Susquehanna
Insiders
2.0%
Form 4 — latest per insider
0%25%50%75%100%2022-062023-032023-122024-092025-062026-03
ActiveRetail fundsPassiveMarket makersRetail direct

Top holders

Fund$ valueCost basisΔ QoQΔ YoYα lifeFund AUM
BlackRock, Inc.Passive$492M$32.65−$6.4M+$156M-0.2%$5.69T
VANGUARD PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT LLCPassive$210M$36.13+$210M+$210M$1.91T
DIMENSIONAL FUND ADVISORS LPPassive$193M$33.69+$2.2M+$51.0M-0.4%$480.92B
STATE STREET CORPPassive$175M$32.94+$4.2M+$23.0M-0.2%$2.89T
WELLINGTON MANAGEMENT GROUP LLP$156M$34.99+$44.7M+$98.8M-0.3%$533.98B
VANGUARD CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLCPassive$154M$36.13+$154M+$154M$4.04T
VICTORY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT INC$110M$25.94−$7.7M−$26.9M-0.2%$156.12B
Invesco Ltd.$94.5M$34.52+$15.5M+$77.3M-0.2%$652.04B
GEODE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLCPassive$83.5M$33.28+$2.3M+$29.7M+2.3%$1.61T
Channing Capital Management, LLC$78.3M$35.66−$2.1M+$78.3M-0.2%$3.91B
WESTWOOD HOLDINGS GROUP INC$71.5M$29.10−$564K−$5.2M-0.3%$13.73B
NOMURA ASSET MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL INC.$65.4M$34.99−$9.3M+$65.4M+1.4%$58.02B
FRONTIER CAPITAL MANAGEMENT CO LLC$61.5M$34.52−$11.0M+$20.8M-0.5%$9.65B
Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC$58.2M$31.05−$3.8M−$9.2M-0.7%$59.61B
GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC$54.1M$32.47+$11.8M+$10.4M-0.2%$760.93B
JENNISON ASSOCIATES LLC$50.6M$34.38+$4.4M−$6.1M+2.7%$145.31B
PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL GROUP INC$45.6M$35.53+$29.2M+$29.0M-0.5%$186.29B
CHARLES SCHWAB INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC$40.1M$32.23+$401K+$9.5M+0.7%$645.81B
WILLIAM BLAIR INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, LLC$35.4M$34.73+$1.2M−$316K-0.4%$30.11B
NORTHERN TRUST CORPPassive$35.4M$33.02+$1.5M−$3.1M-0.2%$755.34B
Cost basis is a volume-weighted estimate from accumulation periods within our 13F history; holders who built their position before our window started will show a stale basis. % above the cost basis is the unrealized gain at the current price.

Trading behavior

Smart-money alpha (lifetime, %/qtr)NEUTRAL
Holders
-0.10%
avg per quarter
Holders (ex-self)
-0.10%
excl. this stock
Buyers (this Q)
-0.27%
138 buyers · $0.61B in
Sellers (this Q)
-0.05%
95 sellers · $0.11B out
alpha coverage: 87% of $ has a lifetime-alpha record
Holder behavior on this stocksource: stock
On big dips (−10%+)
+10.9%
how holders react when this stock falls
On quiet Qs
-2.2%
−10% to +10% baseline
On rallies (+10%+)
-13.6%
how they react when this stock rises
Holders' portfolio flow this Q
-0.2%
outflows — trims may be forced
Sellers' portfolio flow this Q
-2.1%
Sellers shed AUM broadly — partly forced.
▸ Compare to holder-profile behavior (across all their stocks)
Holder dip (any stock)
-4.5%
Holder mid (any stock)
-2.9%
Holder rally (any stock)
-5.3%

Top Holders Over Time

5-year share-count history (top 10 holders by peak, incl. exited) + price

04.7M9.4M14.1M18.8M$24$27$30$33$362021-062022-062023-062024-062025-062026-03
hover the chart for per-quarter detailprice (right axis)
VICTORY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT INC3.1MWELLINGTON MANAGEMENT GROUP LLP4.3MInvesco Ltd.2.6MT. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc.MACQUARIE GROUP LTDChanning Capital Management, LLC2.2MFRONTIER CAPITAL MANAGEMENT CO LLC1.7MWESTWOOD HOLDINGS GROUP INC2.0MNOMURA ASSET MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL INC.1.8MWELLS FARGO & COMPANY/MN68K

Analyst Coverage

Analyst Coverage
Price Targets
Last Year (1 analysts)$41.0070.0%
Current Price$40.72
Analyst Ratings
9
6
Strong Buy: 1Buy: 9Hold: 6Consensus: Buy
Consensus Estimates
QuarterRevenueEBITDANet IncEPSEPS Range# Analysts
2025 Q3273M78M63M$0.67$0.66 – $0.685
2025 Q4276M79M73M$0.78$0.76 – $0.805
2026 Q1276M79M79M$0.84$0.79 – $0.876
2026 Q2282M80M87M$0.92$0.91 – $0.945
2026 Q3286M82M89M$0.94$0.93 – $0.965
2026 Q4288M82M90M$0.95$0.94 – $0.961
2027 Q1286M82M89M$0.94$0.93 – $0.951
2027 Q2294M84M92M$0.98$0.97 – $0.991
2027 Q3300M86M96M$1.02$1.02 – $1.031
2027 Q4302M86M98M$1.04$1.04 – $1.051

Corporate

Executive Compensation (2023-2025)

Direct Pay$46.2M
Incentive & Other$15.3M
Total Compensation$61.5M
% of Revenue1.8%

Insider Trading (last 12mo)

Open-market only (Form 4 P-Purchase + S-Sale). Excludes grants, option exercises, tax withholding, gifts.
Officers & directors
Buys ($, 12mo)
$141K
2 txns · 1 insider · 4,000 sh
Sells ($, 12mo)
$2.13M
6 txns · 6 insiders · 54,204 sh
Recent transactions
DateSideInsiderTitleSharesPriceDollarsOwned $
2026-05-19SELLDALE ALBERT J IIIdirector1,650$39.80$66K$1.59M
2026-05-14SELLWAYCASTER C MITCHELLdirector, officer: Executive Vice Chairman12,704$39.50$502K$7.24M
2026-03-04SELLHutcheson Kellyofficer: EVP/Chief Accounting Officer1,350$38.65$52K$647K
2026-02-13SELLCOLE M RAY JRdirector, officer: SEVP and Executive Advisor20,000$40.63$813K$0
2026-02-02SELLJeanfreau Markofficer: EVP/General Counsel6,000$37.88$227K$2.47M
2026-01-30SELLMabry James C. IVofficer: EVP and CFO12,500$37.83$473K$3.99M
2025-11-11BUYLEVY JONATHAN Adirector2,000$34.79$70K$358K
2025-08-01BUYLEVY JONATHAN Adirector2,000$35.64$71K$295K

Order Flow (FINRA, ~3w lag)

16.9%retail-1.2pp
27.2%dark+2.6pp
week of 2026-04-13
5%10%15%20%25%30%35%24-1125-0225-0525-0825-1126-0226-04retail (non-ATS)dark (ATS)
Off-exchange volume from FINRA. Retail = non-ATS (wholesaler PFOF + broker internalization). Dark = ATS (dark-pool crossing networks, institutional). Lit-exchange = remainder.

Revenue Breakdown

Revenue Segments

By Product (2026-Q1)
Bank Servicing$3.3M-10%

Filing Risk Analysis

Filing Risk Scores

Renasant Corp: Clerical Anomalies in Future-Dated Filing Suggest Administrative Oversight

Overall Risk
4/10
Fraud
2/10
Dilution
2/10
Insolvency
2/10
Earnings Overstated
3/10
Hidden Liabilities
2/10
Legal
3/10
Audit Warnings
4/10
Hidden Upside
1/10
Contextually Acceptable
4/10

Counter-Thesis

Counter-Thesis & Recent News

📰 Recent News

Renasant reported Q1 2026 earnings on April 28, 2026, which featured a headline EPS beat ($0.93 vs. $0.84 expected). However, the stock saw a muted reaction as credit quality metrics showed signs of deterioration. Specifically, non-performing loans (NPLs) increased to 1.06% of total loans, up 14 basis points from the previous quarter, with the absolute amount of NPLs rising to $200.3 million (Investing.com, Simply Wall St).

🐻 Bear Case

The bear case centers on rising 'problem credits' and margin compression. Despite overall loan growth, Renasant's NPLs have trended upward throughout 2025 and into 2026. Furthermore, net profit margins have declined from 27.8% a year ago to 23.3% as of Q1 2026. The stock trades at a P/E ratio of approximately 20.47x, which is significantly higher than the regional bank industry average of roughly 11.5x, suggesting the stock may be overvalued relative to its peers given the weakening credit profile (Simply Wall St).

🚩 Red Flags

A major red flag is recent insider activity; CFO James C. Mabry IV sold 12,500 shares (roughly 10.6% of his position) in January 2026 at an average price of $37.83 (MarketBeat). Additionally, the bank's exposure to Commercial Real Estate (CRE) stands at $6.1 billion, or roughly 32.3% of total loans, a sector management admits remains volatile due to refinancing and payoff dynamics (Seeking Alpha).

⚔️ Competitive Threats

Management highlighted 'very aggressive pricing and terms' from competitors as a significant constraint on growth, contributing to 'softness' in the Q1 2026 pipeline. The bank faces intense pressure in the Southeastern U.S. from both large national banks and agile fintech entrants who are aggressively bidding for core deposits and SME loan market share (Seeking Alpha, PESTEL-Analysis).

💬 Customer Sentiment

While official customer satisfaction ratings remain neutral-to-positive, management's own commentary signals a shift in sentiment where customers are increasingly price-sensitive. The need for the bank to compete on 'aggressive terms' to retain relationships indicates a loss of pricing power and potential churn risk as customers seek higher yields or lower borrowing costs elsewhere (Seeking Alpha).

Full Earnings Call Transcript

Full Earnings Call Transcript — Q1 • 2026-04-29

Operator: Good morning, and welcome to the Renasant Corporation 2026 First Quarter Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Kelly Hutcheson, Executive Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer with Renasant Corporation. Please go ahead.
Kelly Hutcheson: Good morning, and thank you for joining us for Renasant Corporation's Quarterly Webcast and Conference Call. Participating in the call today are members of Renasant's executive management team. Before we begin, please note that many of our comments during this call will be forward-looking statements, which involve risk and uncertainty. There are many factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, changes in the mix and cost of our funding sources, interest rate fluctuation, regulatory changes, portfolio performance and other factors discussed in our recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our recently filed earnings release, which has been posted to our corporate site, www.renasant.com at the Press Releases link under the News and Market Data tab. We undertake no obligation, and we specifically disclaim any obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results over time. In addition, some of the financial measures that we may discuss this morning are non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of the non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures can be found in our earnings release. And now I will turn the call over to our President and Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Chapman.
Kevin Chapman: Thank you, Kelly, and good morning. Two years ago, we challenged ourselves by setting aspirational goals to improve our financial performance. At that time, we targeted the first quarter of 2026 as a key measuring stick that would show the financial benefits of our work. Frankly, the strong results for the first quarter exceed our goals. Adjusted earnings per share were $0.93 in the first quarter representing a 41% increase year-over-year. For the quarter, adjusted return on assets grew from 95 basis points in 2025 to 133 basis points in 2026. Our adjusted return on tangible equity grew from 10.3% to 16.3%. And last of all, the efficiency ratio improved from 65.5% to 55.7%. I am extremely proud of our team's accomplishments to remain customer-centric while we went through our largest merger, conversion and integration. As we move forward, the Renasant team is engaged and focused on the priorities for our company to continue to grow customer relationships and hiring talented bankers. I will now turn the call over to Jim to give more details on the financial results.
James Mabry: Thank you, Kevin, and good morning. Looking at the balance sheet, loans were down $71.8 million on a linked quarter basis or 1.5% annualized. Deposits were up $626.4 million from the fourth quarter or 11.8% annualized. Reported net interest margin decreased 2 basis points to 3.87%, while adjusted margin decreased 1 basis point to 3.61% on a linked quarter basis. Our adjusted total cost of deposits decreased 3 basis points to 1.94%, while our adjusted loan yields decreased 7 basis points to 6.04%. From a capital standpoint, all regulatory capital ratios remain in excess of required minimums to be considered well capitalized. We recorded a credit loss provision on loans of $8.1 million, comprised of $4.2 million for funded loans and $3.9 million for unfunded commitments. Net charge-offs were $2.3 million and the ACL as a percentage of total loans increased 2 basis points quarter-over-quarter to 1.56%. Turning to the income statement. Our adjusted pre-provision net revenue was $118.3 million. Net interest income decreased $3.8 million quarter-over-quarter. Noninterest income was $50.3 million in the first quarter, a linked quarter decrease of $0.9 million. The decline in noninterest income is primarily related to the recognition in the fourth quarter of a one-time gain of $2 million resulting from the exit of low-income housing tax credit partnerships. The absence of this gain in the first quarter was partially offset by strong performance on SBA loan sales. Noninterest expense was $155.3 million for the first quarter. Excluding merger and conversion expenses of $10.6 million in the fourth quarter, this is a linked quarter decrease of $4.9 million. I will now turn the call back over to Kevin.
Kevin Chapman: Thank you, Jim. We believe that Renasant is uniquely positioned to capitalize on organic growth opportunities. We appreciate your interest in Renasant and look forward to further discussing our results with you this morning. I will now turn the call over to the operator for questions.
Operator: [Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Michael Rose with Raymond James.
Michael Rose: Just wanted to start on expenses. Obviously, a lot of hard work has been done on the first cost savings. The step down was maybe a little bit better than I think you guys had talked about last quarter. Maybe, Kevin, if you can just give us kind of an update on where the merger cost savings stand. I would assume that you've got most of them at this point, but wanted to see if there's anything left. Maybe you can also talk about kind of the reduction in employee headcount that you've had. And if we can kind of assume that there'd be a little bit of growth off of this 155 rate that we saw in the first quarter. Just trying to get kind of a near-term outlook.
James Mabry: Michael, it's Jim. I'll start, and I'm sure Kevin will add some color. But we're really pleased with what's happened in that line item. I mean we -- it's been a focus, as you know, for the company for a number of years. And we started to see the real progress beginning, call it, 18 months ago, even before we started to see the benefits from the merger with the first, we could see it start to bend down. So that's been a focus and remains a focus. In terms of where we go from here, I mean, as you point out, we hit our goals with respect to expense saves from the first. So very pleased with that. I don't see a lot of savings associated with the merger from this point on, I think we realized most of those expense saves. That's not to say that we can't be more just as a company as a whole, but I think expenses that are -- expense saves that are truly related to the merger are pretty much in this run rate. Looking forward there, I guess, a couple of things. We will have merit increases, obviously, in the second quarter, and there's a day count factor as we look to Q2 and beyond. But I think -- so I think we do have those things, which will cause expenses to drift up moderately. The other variable, and this is probably something Kevin should speak to, but is we have seen and are seeing opportunities to hire. As you know, there's a lot of dislocation going on in the marketplace. And so we've seen that already and expect to see more of it. I would say that's the part of the picture in NIE that will be a little hard to predict. And Kevin, please add to that.
Kevin Chapman: Yes, thank you, Jim. And Michael, I'll just add, you mentioned about the headcount. So if you go back to June of '24, which we announced the merger with the first in July. But if you look at just our combined FTEs, we were just shy of 3,400 employees. If you just take us plus them, that's what our FTEs were. At 3/31, that number will be about 2,950. So we've carved out 420 employees over that time period. Not all of them were due to the cost saves of the merger. Prior to that, Renasant was highly focused on accountability and ensuring that we had the right team for what we want the goals to be. So I agree with Jim that our cost save number we've achieved, but the accountability measures and the requirements to be higher performing at Renasant haven't changed. And so we'll continue to focus on that, find incremental ways to improve costs to reallocate expenses to higher-performing endeavors. That effort will not change, but that didn't occur because of the first. That was happening long before that. Jim also mentioned the new hires. I think one thing that is hidden in the focus on expenses that we've had over the past couple of quarters is the hiring we've been doing. The cost saves and the expenses where they land today, that includes new hires that we've been making along -- all along the past several quarters. In Q1, we hired 18 revenue producers. In Q4, we hired 6. And in Q3 of last year, we hired 9. So if you look at the real cost saves associated with the merger, associated with accountability measures, it's much deeper than optically what we're showing in the numbers. But we're extremely excited about the hiring opportunities we have, the market dislocation that is giving us the opportunity to have conversations with extremely talented bankers all throughout the Southeast. And I think we've said it in the past, we kind of grade out -- you grade out your employees, A, B, C, D and F. I think we've said this that we will always hire A-rated talent when they're available. And maybe I'll say it a little bit more pointedly, we won't flinch at the opportunity to hire A-rated talent. And we're seeing that opportunity all around us right now.
Michael Rose: That's great color. So I'm not trying to pin you down, but just as a starting point, it sounds like with the puts and takes, maybe a couple of million bucks higher in the second quarter is what we could expect? Or is that fair? Just trying to better appreciate kind of a starting run rate with the seasonality aspects.
James Mabry: I would say this, that from Q1, probably a low single-digit percent increase, and that factors in some of the hiring Kevin is talking about, but that's the variable that's hard to predict because as Kevin points out, we see opportunities to be opportunistic, and we intend to pursue those. So that's the piece that Michael is a little tough to forecast. But at its base, I would give you that, that day count and merit is probably, call it, I don't know, low single digits, and then we'll see what comes from the hiring, which will add to that.
Michael Rose: Perfect. I appreciate that, Jim. Maybe just as a follow-up, I think the one thing you can point to this quarter is just the loan contraction. I think you guys did a good job kind of laying that out. It does look like the production was down maybe a little bit more than I think maybe some of us would have expected and down year-over-year as well despite the addition of the first. Maybe you can just maybe update loan growth expectations from here. I think last quarter, you kind of talked about mid-single digits for the year. That could be a little tough just given the starting point, but just any puts and takes and then maybe what paydowns would look like?
Kevin Chapman: Yes. So look, we recognize loan growth was slightly down, but it has not changed our outlook for our growth profile. We think we are squarely a mid-single-digit grower. Michael, when I listen to conversations, I get feedback from our team, they're active and engaged. If you break down Q1, let's just break it down into the 3 months of Q1. January and February, we had good growth. In March, that growth evaporated on us a little bit. And I think 2 things caused that. One was some macro events. We saw some of our pipeline and some opportunities get pushed into Q3. Right now, the -- at the beginning of the quarter, our pipeline is up 30% from where it was at the beginning of the year. So I think some of it is our pipeline got pushed just with some macro events. The other thing is that we saw some very aggressive pricing and terms on some incumbent banks that were being aggressive to retain customers. And so that's the 2 things that really kind of led to the slight decrease in our loan growth in Q1. But we think one of those corrects with that pipeline being pushed into Q2. And then also, we'll just continue to operate in a very competitive environment and make decisions that's best for Renasant. And in some cases, we may try to match terms. In other cases, we may not. But we -- just in talking with our team, we still have confidence that over the course of a longer period of time, not just 1 quarter, but over several quarters, we are a mid-single-digit grower.
Michael Rose: So it sounds like you're reaffirming the outlook for the year.
Operator: The next question comes from Catherine Mealor with KBW.
Catherine Mealor: Great to see you reaffirmed the mid-single-digit growth outlook. The deposit growth was really strong this quarter. Can you talk about if any of that was seasonal or should pull back and kind of how you're thinking about deposit growth relative to loan growth for the year? And maybe within deposits, what you're seeing on incremental deposit costs as well?
James Mabry: Sure. Catherine, this is Jim. So yes, the first quarter was a good quarter -- the first quarter was a good quarter in terms of deposit growth. And there was some seasonality to it, and much of that would be on the public fund side. We -- as you know, we felt some of those tailwinds in the latter half of last year in terms of public fund outflows. That reversed itself in Q1. So a meaningful, call it, 50% or 60% of the growth that we saw in Q1 came from public funds. And the balance was just core deposit growth. And as we look forward, I would say we'll have some seasonality here in April, tax season, plus we'll start to see some of that -- some of those public inflows moderate as we go throughout the year, and they'll trend downward. So -- our outlook overall, though, for the year is that we've got mid-single-digit growth in deposits. That's the goal, and that's what we're focused on in terms of growing core deposits in that mid-single-digit range. We want to try to have that growth be roughly parallel with the loan growth, and that's still our outlook for the year.
Kevin Chapman: Catherine, I may just add to that, that we recognize that public funds have created some noise. But if you kind of look through that and just tying this back to the market disruption, we've seen an uptick in the month of April in new account openings on deposits. And it's a marked improvement. I'll just give you one data point that I learned this morning. Over the last 4 days, we've opened up 340 deposit accounts. Normal trend line in 2025 is that we're probably opening a couple of hundred accounts per month. And over the last 4 days, we've opened up over 300. So I think that's just an interesting point of data. It will ultimately show up in the numbers. But again, I think it also speaks to how our team is responding throughout our markets and meeting needs of customers who may be uncertain at this moment, providing certainty to them. But I think that's an interesting data point that as we get into Q2 and Q3, we'll see how it plays out with balance sheet growth.
Catherine Mealor: That's great. And then maybe just thinking about average earning asset growth. It looks like the bond book increased this quarter, and maybe that was to replace some of the slowness of the loan growth this quarter and that's temporary. But do you expect to continue to grow securities as we move through the year? Or do you think the back half of the year is really more geared towards loan growth and the bond book will be a little bit more flat?
James Mabry: I mean that's the outlook we would hope for because as you point out, we didn't have quite the loan growth that we anticipated, and that was some of the reason you saw the growth in the bond book. So I think as we go through the course of the year, we've got -- I think our securities portfolio is roughly $4 billion, plus or minus, and that's comfortably $1 billion above where we would -- we feel comfortable. So there's plenty of capacity there to fund loan growth, and we would expect and hope that probably that securities portfolio starts to trend downward as we have that loan growth. And of course, some of that will depend on what we see on the deposit side. But you're correct to point out that was a function of a couple of things, just the strong deposit growth we had and the lower-than-average loan growth in Q1.
Operator: The next question comes from Matt Olney with Stephens.
Matt Olney: I wanted to follow up on the net interest margin discussion. I think last time we talked on the call, we talked about the margin being relatively flattish for the year with the expectation of a few rate cuts. So I would love to hear just updated thoughts on the net interest margin, absent any rate cuts and any kind of sensitivity you have if the Fed does cut from here?
James Mabry: Our guidance was really unchanged on the margin. We -- our current forecast does not have any rate cuts in it. And even though I think as you point out, I think we had 2 cuts in our prior call or in the model when we had the fourth quarter call, it really doesn't change that much the outlook for NIM. So I think we're -- I think the outlook from here is stable in that core NIM. If we get a couple of cuts, I don't know that, that really influences it very much. So I think it's sort of steady as she goes on core NIM for the balance of '26.
Matt Olney: Okay. Appreciate that, Jim. And then I guess just following up on that. Deposit costs were great this quarter, moved that down a little bit more. Any more opportunities on the, I guess, the overall funding side for improvement from what we saw in the first quarter?
James Mabry: I would say not much, Matt. I mean I think we've exhausted much of what we're going to see in terms of repricing opportunities on the deposit side. We still do have on the left-hand side, we've got loans maturing. I think we've got $1.2 billion or $1.3 billion over the next 12 months or like at 5% or 5.1%. So that represents some repricing benefit, but not so much -- we don't see so much on the deposit side.
Operator: The next question comes from Dave Bishop with Hovde Group.
David Bishop: Kevin, I'm curious, you talked about the hiring opportunities within the market. Are there any specific niches or segments that maybe you're not in that are enticing you here? Are these sort of the tried and true commercial C&I bankers that you're going to be targeting?
Kevin Chapman: Yes. So really, not so much niches per se, but what we are seeing is the opportunity to build out some -- outside of your -- what you mentioned, kind of your traditional commercial bankers or bankers in a specific market. What we are seeing is the ability to kind of more develop or fully develop and mature some business lines that we already have, whether it's some of our secured lending conversations that we're having there or in the case of a line of business like wealth management. We're seeing opportunity there, which just gives us -- we already have some of these throughout our footprint. This has just given us the ability to get more depth and reach in some of those business lines, but not necessarily looking to add a new vertical in the lending unit. It's really just being able to more mature and put more bench strength within already lines of businesses or some of our established secured lending lines. And again, that's just outside of your traditional C&I or your market-specific banking team. And so I'd just say that opportunity is all throughout -- that opportunity for conversations and hiring is all throughout. There's also just with the disruption and how we overlay with the disruption, I think we've shared this in past conversations, but we created an internal map just overlays our footprint with the markets that are going through disruption, and we overlay nicely with that. But to quantify the opportunity, there's over $90 billion in deposits that are currently going through a transformational merger. And again, not that we're going to pick up and I'm not saying we're going to pick up $90 billion, but it just shows you the level of disruption that's happening. We also firmly believe there's going to continue to be M&A in the Southeast, and that disruption just gets more loud. And to be in a position where Renasant is today to be converted, to be merged, to be integrated and to be focused on customers and employees, that's a very good place to be right now in a world of disruption. Stability is a great place to be in a world of disruption. And so I think that's what gives us an opportunity and a little bit of an edge at the moment. But specifically to your question, we're having conversations with people that bring sticky business and sticky revenue, and that will enhance and complement what we do.
David Bishop: Great. And one follow-up on the buyback, the aggressiveness there. Just curious, holistically, is there sort of any targeted TCE regulatory capital ratios that sort of govern how aggressive you're going to be?
James Mabry: Thanks, Dave. This is Jim. Yes, I think our outlook there is similar to what we talked about in the Q4 call. We -- if we pick CET1 as a ratio to point to, we started the year at roughly 11.25%, plus or minus percent. And I think our desired outcome would be to roughly finish somewhere in that range at year-end. And so balance sheet growth will play a role in that. But our expectation is obviously take care of whatever balance sheet growth comes our way and make sure we capitalize that, but then continue to lean into buybacks. So as you saw, we were active in Q1, and we continued that activity in early Q2. And so our goal is to continue to avail ourselves of buybacks. We're very optimistic about our performance outlook as a company. And so we like the opportunity to invest in our stock. And bear in mind those sort of capital guardrails, our goal is to continue to take advantage of opportunities to buy back our stock.
Operator: The next question comes from Stephen Scouten with Piper Sandler.
Stephen Scouten: Maybe a little bit following up on that line of questioning. But just wondering how aggressive you would see yourselves being in this macro environment, kind of the level of cautiousness versus what you described as kind of the opportunity set before you and a mindset of always wanting to hire good talent, a talent when it's out there, just kind of how you balance that as you look ahead to the rest of this year.
Kevin Chapman: Yes. So one, great question because -- and I'm going to talk very holistic with you because I think it speaks to our capital plan, right? So this is a long-term plan. And if you look at what we've been doing over the last couple of quarters, we've been fully enacting this capital plan. And that plan starts with a strong balance sheet, strong capital ratios, strong allowance for loan loss. And we try to think in terms of optionality and being best positioned in a variety of scenarios. And so we believe we are well positioned to be opportunistic to deploy capital for future hiring and have capital allocated for future growth. If things get bad from a macro level, I think if we start looking at the stability of the balance sheet or the strength of a holding company, the cash on hand at a holding company or in a stress scenario with allowance, we're going to screen out very well in that draconian scenario as well. So we can be -- we are well positioned to be opportunistic in a good environment or defensive in a bad environment. And that's -- that's a great place to be in a world of uncertainty where the whole world can change in a matter of minutes with a tweet. That's really where we feel like we need to be right now. And -- but if you look at where we are from a return on tangible common equity or return on Tier 1 capital, being at 16% gives us a lot of optionality. It gives us the ability to pay roughly a 30% dividend payout ratio. It gives us the ability to stockpile capital for future growth. And then it gives us the ability to have some extra capital to either stockpile for future M&A, stockpile for future hires and their growth or look at the option of buying back in the form of a stock buyback. So I'm giving you a very roundabout answer to say, we -- with where we've gotten the profitability of the company, particularly from a return on Tier 1 capital, return on tangible common equity, that gives us a lot of optionality to choose which way we want to lean based on how we see hiring or performance of the stock or M&A or just simply be defensive. We feel like we are well positioned to have that option in our control as opposed to being behind as the environment change, and it could change rapidly.
Stephen Scouten: Yes. That's great color, Kevin. I appreciate the idea of the optionality there. I guess one follow-up for me, and I think you somewhat answered it when you talked about your internal mapping of the dislocation. But as you think about the concentration of new hires, would you say it's been more about where those opportunities just exist currently based on dislocation? Or has there been any incremental effort to kind of deepen the newer markets that you entered into from the first? Just kind of wondering where those hires are concentrated, if at all.
Kevin Chapman: Yes. So they're really -- they're really concentrated in markets -- in new markets we've entered or markets where we don't necessarily have the market share that we want to have. So I'll just take, for example, North Mississippi. We've done some selective hiring. But what we've mainly done there is our teams have been focused on customer acquisition as opposed to talent acquisition just because of the overlap. In other areas -- in other markets, it's given us the opportunity to build bench strength. And also, there are certain parts of our company, we can't have enough employees. It always feels like we're a player or 2 behind in those areas. And this has given us the opportunity to get a player or 2 ahead in those areas and just build bench strength and take pressure off of our current employees. They do a great job, but just give them some additional support. Stephen, the other thing we're doing is taking the opportunity to pick up back office talent. Right now, our back office, we have tremendous talent in our back office. This gives us the ability to build bench strength and also increase our time horizon, extend our runway and have the potential to grow to higher levels than maybe we currently are contemplating by adding that staff today, it will give us that runway and optionality to become a bigger bank without immediately meeting a growing pain as we do that. So just -- we're being very selective, but I would say that most of it has been targeted in either new markets where we want to build out additional footprint and market share or very selective places where we're just adding talent to provide more bench strength.
Operator: [Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Janet Lee with TD Cowen.
Sun Young Lee: You've already touched on it, and I understand that payoff and paydowns you can never really predict precisely. But is it realistic to assume that your CRE loans are going to just continue decline from here on and a lot of your growth will be coming from C&I? Or do you have a line of sight into we're at the low point on CRE and things are likely to improve in the second half of 2026?
David Meredith: Janet, this is David Meredith. So I guess we'll look at it a few different ways. One, I would say CRE is not an area we intend to shrink. We continue to have a great deal of focus on our commercial real estate business. We've got some great lines of business that continue to pursue just commercial real estate. So it's a dedicated effort we have. I think there's -- obviously, there's a lot of noise in commercial real estate. We've had the expectation for an increased level of payoffs for some time based on interest rates and the aging of some properties. And so there's going to be a certain level of rotation or volatility in that commercial real estate space as some of them pay off. But we continue to look at new opportunities and continue to be aggressive in that space. When we look at increase in commitments over the last couple of quarters, we have an increased level of commitment in our construction book. Obviously, with the level of equity going into construction projects, it may be 6 to 9 months before we start to see fundings, but we are growing our commitment levels in those areas, and we've done those for the past couple of quarters as well. But what we will continue to see is based on the interest rate environment, we'll continue to see some -- just some rotation of loans as they've matured and just the normal course of business for commercial real estate opportunities, they're going to go to -- they're going to either sell the asset, they're going to go to the private debt market, look for private placement long-term rates, things that aren't traditionally a bank-type financing vehicle. So we'll continue to see some volatility in that space, but it's definitely an area we're still continuing to pursuing at a high level of our growth strategy, along with -- as we've seen increased levels of C&I. As you pointed out, we invested in those lines of business, the factoring the asset-based lending, the corporate C&I effort. So we continue to focus there. But it's a broad-based commercial real estate, C&I. We're not being specific in any one area.
Sun Young Lee: Got it. And it looks like the second quarter, fee income, there was some strong performance on the SBA loan sales. Where do you see the most upside in terms of fee income opportunities? It looks like there are some different puts and takes within the specific line items within fee. But overall, it's been growing pretty nicely. But how should we think about the pace of your fee income growth from here?
James Mabry: This is Jim Mabry. I would say, as you mentioned SBA, there are a couple of areas that have done really well. And our outlook for the balance of the year would be, I think there are some puts and takes, but generally, the first quarter is a pretty good jumping off point. I would think there's a chance for some modest improvement there. But I think it's a good run rate to think about. Mortgage had a good quarter in Q1. It was up a bit from fourth quarter. SBA was good. We didn't see -- and this relates to some of the commentary about loan production. We didn't have the capital markets performance that we typically do in Q1. So I think as we start to see that production fall through and become loan growth, we would expect that capital markets would exhibit higher levels of fee income. So -- and I guess lastly, I would say wealth is an area that's been very steady. I do think that, that holds promise as we look forward for solid single-digit, mid-single-digit growth and potentially better down the road. We're putting a lot of effort and energy into that area. And I think with the things that we're doing just internally with legacy Renasant and then some of the things that are going on around us in terms of dislocation, I see that as an area that will do well in coming years.
Kevin Chapman: Jim, I may just add to that. Just some of the hiring we've done, we've enhanced wealth management. You'll start to see that revenue lift. As we get -- as we start to exit Q2 and get into Q3 and Q4, I do want to take the opportunity to talk about mortgage. Mortgage was an interesting quarter, particularly if you go back to February, February prior to kind of the macro Middle East conflict events, and the subsequent rates rising, the 30-year rate had gotten down to a 5 handle on a conventional mortgage and our pipeline popped. We saw immediate -- and it really just kind of spoke to how we've built mortgage with the retooling of the production we've added. And as rates cooperate, that pipeline, the revenue, it immediately shows up. And so again, I know we're not in a position where rates are cooperating with mortgage. They'll continue to slug it out, continue to be profitable. But when rates cooperate, mortgage will -- you will see almost an immediate impact from mortgage. And you kind of see that a little bit in Q1 because of what happened with rates in February. So again, we wait for the day that we don't have to apologize for mortgage and for being in the mortgage industry, but we continue to be well positioned and invest in that arm of our company and feel like we're really well positioned if rates ever cooperate with us.
Operator: And we have a follow-up from Dave Bishop with Hovde Group.
David Bishop: Yes. Just a quick follow-up on credit. Trends look fairly well behaved. It looks like there's a little bit of inflow on the nonaccrual side. Just maybe some color there. And then, Kevin, maybe holistically, speaking in the past, I know you guys have always taken pride in the reserves to loans, sort of like building a rainy day fund there. Do you think that the ACL to loan sort of sits in the mid-150s range as you go through the year? Do you think there's a little bit of a bleed if things improve from a macroeconomic perspective?
David Meredith: David Meredith. On the NPL question, we did see a little bit of an inflow in Q2, and that number has increased somewhat over the last couple of quarters. And that increase has kind of been broad-based. There's nothing in particular. If we look at Q2, we had about a $24 million increase. I will say that was about $69 million of new NPLs on a $45 million outflow. So we continue to resolve our NPL loans. But the inflow was centered in really a few larger dollar transactions, about $7 million in CRE, $19 million in C&I and then a little bit in construction and development. And really, it was centered in just a handful of loans that we believe we're in a position to work out. Our composition of our NPL book continues to be somewhat consistent quarter-over-quarter. There's not any one area that I would say is concentrated in from an asset type or a geography. Our average NPL size is small. I will say we've -- when we look at our kind of our general asset quality, we see some positives. Our 30- to 89-day numbers continue to be low. So we like within the breadth of our portfolio, we don't see a broader level of losses. I also will say our charge-offs in Q4, as you saw, were only 5 basis points. And consistently, it was in our deck, we -- over the last 12 months, we resolved a high level of NPLs with minimal charge-offs. And so we feel comfortable that our underwriting that we're structuring loans properly as we continue to resolve those problems. So it's something we'll continue to work through. We continue to have processes in place to identify loans early so we can resolve them quickly and mitigate any loss that's out there. So a lot of positives, 30-day, 89-day charge-offs, criticized classifieds came down. So -- and we'll just continue to work through our NPLs.
Kevin Chapman: And Dave, I'll just add on the allowance. Look, I think as we look around credit quality is stable. And -- but one thing that really probably just concerns us, and this goes back to when we built the allowance back to 2020 was just all the volatility and uncertainty that's out there that's putting strain on either consumers or commercial businesses cash flows. And so I don't think that the macro concerns have alleviated yet. Just take what happened in March with energy costs. All you have to do is go fill up your car, and you saw a 30% to 40% increase in 30 days of what it costs just to fill up your car. And we think that ultimately, that's got to catch up with people in some way in their cash flows. And so just continue to keep what we think is an appropriate level of allowance just given the uncertainty and as we have clear pictures from a macro level, at that point in time, we'll reevaluate the sufficiency of the allowance. But right now, I just think there's enough macro uncertainty, even though it may not be showing up quantitatively in our credit quality numbers, there is enough uncertainty out there to keep the level of reserve where it is.
Operator: This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Kevin Chapman, President and CEO, for any closing remarks.
Kevin Chapman: I appreciate that. Thank you, and thank you to all of those that have joined us this morning. We appreciate your interest in the company and look forward to meeting with you throughout the quarter. Thank you.
Operator: The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.