For the year ended December 31, 2025, we had net income of $543 million, compared with $480 million for the same period in 2024, an increase of $63 million or 13.2%. Our net income per diluted common share was $5.72 for the year ending December 31, 2025, compared with $5.05 for the same period in 2024, an increase of 13.3%. The net income was $139.9 million for three months, ending December 31, 2025, compared with $130 million for the same period in 2024, an increase of $9.8 million or 7.6%. Our annualized return on average assets and average tangible common equity for the three months ending December 31, 2025, were 1.49% on assets and 13.61% on tangible equity.
As mentioned, since 2024, we expected our net interest margin to increase, and it has. Our overall loans have been impacted by efforts to outsource some less desired loans acquired in previous transactions also. Deposits, as mentioned in our last quarter, we expected deposits to increase due to seasonality, but the increase exceeded our expectations. Deposits were $28.4 billion at December 31, 2025, an increase of $700 million from $27.7 billion at September 30, 2025.
For 27 years, we have remained disciplined and focused on the same strategy, delivering shareholder value by prioritizing low-cost core deposits, operational efficiency, sound credit quality, and growth via opportunistic M&A. In addition to this first quarter guidance, we will also have about $30 million-$33 million in one-time merger-related charges for those two acquisitions. Our non-performing assets at quarter end, December 31, 2025, totaled $150,842,000, or 69 basis points of loans and other real estate, compared to $119,563,000, or 54 basis points at September 30, 2025. Just curious what's driving that difference and your confidence in that level of earnings coming over from Stellar.