Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrated! Banking is a fascinating industry to analyze and follow, however, it is rarely a good time to actively buy bank stocks individually. This is why I only hold one direct bank stock in my portfolio (Hingham Institution For Savings).
Hi. Thanks for the original write up on hingham.Are you concerned about Hingham having to keep increasing its borrowing/advances from FHLB? I just reread the 10-k last night and saw it looked like last year it’s average rate it was paying to FHLB for advances was higher than its average rate it had for it’s written loans. The last 10-q showed its advances had increased again to 1.5 billion with a max cap around 2 billion. Can Hingham increase that 2 billion cap if their written loans keep increasing at a much faster rate than their deposit base?
Hi, this is a really good concern and definitely something to keep on the radar. However, I would say that Patrick and Robert (Managers of Hingham) are not stupid and have built a strong balance sheet to endure suboptimal conditions and that their specific style of loaning provides a larger margin of safety compared to your average small or large bank. So although this is a difficult spot I have faith in managements ability to perform under the pressure and we will have to wait and see.
Hi. Thanks for the original write up on hingham.Are you concerned about Hingham having to keep increasing its borrowing/advances from FHLB? I just reread the 10-k last night and saw it looked like last year it’s average rate it was paying to FHLB for advances was higher than its average rate it had for it’s written loans. The last 10-q showed its advances had increased again to 1.5 billion with a max cap around 2 billion. Can Hingham increase that 2 billion cap if their written loans keep increasing at a much faster rate than their deposit base?
Hi, this is a really good concern and definitely something to keep on the radar. However, I would say that Patrick and Robert (Managers of Hingham) are not stupid and have built a strong balance sheet to endure suboptimal conditions and that their specific style of loaning provides a larger margin of safety compared to your average small or large bank. So although this is a difficult spot I have faith in managements ability to perform under the pressure and we will have to wait and see.