Good morning. Welcome to the S&T Bancorp Annual Meeting of Stockholders. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mark Kochvar. Please go ahead.
Thank you, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for participating in today's virtual 2026 annual meeting for S&T Bancorp. Before beginning the meeting, I wanna take time to refer you to our statement about forward-looking statements and risk factors, which is on the screen in front of you. This statement provides cautionary language required by the Securities and Exchange Commission for forward-looking statements that may be included in this meeting. At the bottom left-hand side of your screen, you should see a Links, Materials, Information. You can click on any of these tabs and obtain copies of S&T Bancorp's proxy, the annual report, and also the rules of conduct for this meeting. The proxy annual report and the presentation are also available on our website at stbancorp.com. I'd now like to turn the program over to S&T Bancorp's Chair, Chris McComish.
Thank you, Mark, and good morning, everybody, and welcome to S&T Bancorp's Annual Shareholders Meeting dated May 12, 2026. I'd like to call the meeting to order. Again, I am Chris McComish, and as Chair of the Corporation, I will serve as Chair of this annual meeting. I have asked Rachel Smydo to serve as secretary for this morning's meeting. With me are Jeff Grube, Lead Independent Director, Dave Antolik, President, and Mark Kochvar, Chief Financial Officer. Also in attendance today is Dan Quirk of EY, our independent accountants. We will conduct this meeting in accordance with the Rules of Conduct, which can be assessed by clicking on the Rules of Conduct link on your screen. The purpose of this annual meeting is to act upon the following matters.
To elect 11 directors to serve a 1-year term until the next annual meeting of shareholders and until their respective successors are elected and qualified. The nominees are Lewis W. Adkins Jr., David G. Antolik, Peter R. Barsz, Christina A. Cassotis, Stephanie N. Doliveira, Michael J. Donnelly, Jeffrey D. Grube, Peter G. Gurt, William J. Hieb, Christopher J. McComish, and Bhaskar Ramachandran. To ratify the selection of Ernst & Young LLP as S&T's independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal year 2026. To approve on a non-binding advisory basis, the compensation of S&T's named executive officers, and also to transact such other business as may properly come before the meeting or any adjournment thereof.
Additional financial information about fiscal year 2025 and the first quarter of 2026 results can be found at our investor relations website at S&T, stbancorp.com. Overall, we moved forward through 2025 very well, producing strong returns, building record levels of capital, increasing earnings momentum, while receiving external recognition for both financial performance and employee engagement. We continued that momentum in the first quarter of 2026, with earnings up 6% from Q1 2025 and 8% from a year-ago quarter. During this period, we also increased our dividend by $0.03 per share, which equates to an almost 9% increase. Overall, I am very proud of the performance of S&T, which is a direct reflection of the dedication of our 1,200 employees. Moving on. Shareholders may submit questions during this meeting.
We will attempt to accommodate as many questions from you within the prescribed time limits as possible. Only shareholders who have logged into the meeting with their control numbers will have the opportunity to ask questions. Questions from shareholders should pertain to the proposals being considered. The polls are open. If you have already submitted your signed proxy card to the company, there is no need to vote at this time unless you wish to change the vote contained in your previously submitted proxy. We will now address any questions received on the proposals. Mr. Kochvar has been monitoring the meeting website portal for questions. Mr. Kochvar, have we received any questions on the proposals?
We have no questions in queue. Thanks, Chris.
Thank you, Mr. Kochvar. We will now move on with the meeting. It is 10:05, and I declare that the polls are now closed. The judge of election has delivered the preliminary report. I have been informed that a majority of the shares of the corporation are represented by proxy. The board of directors has appointed Timothy P. McKee to be the judge of election and to tabulate the shareholder votes. Rachel, as Secretary, will you please read the results of the judge of election?
All shareholder proposals have received the required number of votes to be approved. A Form 8-K will be filed with the SEC detailing the final voting results of each such proposal.
Thank you, Rachel. More than a required number of votes have been cast to approve each proposal. The 11 nominees are hereby declared elected directors to serve for a one-year term until the next annual meeting of shareholders and until their respective successors are elected and qualified. The selection of Ernst & Young LLP as S&T's independent registered public accounting firm for 2026 has been ratified. Third, a non-binding advisory proposal on the compensation of S&T's named executive officers has been approved. Is there any other business to come before the meeting? Okay, hearing none, before we adjourn, I again wanna thank everybody here in the room and on the call for attending. We certainly appreciate your interest and commitment to S&T Bank. Remember, this is your bank.
We're here working every day for the shareholders to work to continue to improve the already strong financial performance of our company. We will take any referrals of friends and family, should you have them. Seeing that there is no other business to come before the meeting, it is hereby adjourned.
The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.