The provision for income tax expense decreased $0.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 compared to the year ago period due to higher levels of tax-exempt income in the current period and a $0.6 million deferred tax adjustment recorded in the prior period.
BALANCE SHEET REVIEW
At March 31, 2022, total assets, loans and deposits were $3.4 billion, $2.4 billion and $3.0 billion, respectively. Loan growth for the three months ended March 31, 2022, excluding SBA PPP loans, was $98.7 million or 17.7% annualized due to improved loan demand and organic growth in our newest markets. Commercial real estate loans made up the majority of the growth with tax-exempt loans and residential real estate loans also showing increases. During the three months ended March 31, 2022, the SBA forgave PPP loans totaling $30.2 million. Gross SBA PPP loans remaining at March 31, 2022 total $38.7 million. Net deferred SBA PPP fees remaining at March 31, 2022 total $0.7 million and are mostly expected to be earned throughout the remainder of 2022. Total investments were $631.5 million at March 31, 2022, compared to $588.7 million at December 31, 2021. The increase to the investment portfolio resulted from reinvesting a portion of our low-yielding federal funds balance into higher-yielding U.S. Treasury securities. At March 31, 2022, the available-for-sale investment portfolio had an unrealized loss of $34.4 million compared to an unrealized loss of $1.8 million at December 31, 2021, which was the result of the rapid increase in market rates and the FOMC’s 25 basis point increase to the federal funds rate during March 2022. Our federal funds sold balance decreased $141.2 million to $101.2 million at March 31, 2022 from $242.4 million at December 31, 2021 as a result of funding our loan growth and investment purchases during the quarter. Total deposits increased slightly by $1.5 million from December 31, 2021, as the seasonal outflow of public fund deposits were replaced with consumer and commercial growth. Non-interest bearing deposits increased $22.2 million, or 3.0% and interest-bearing deposits decreased $20.7 million, or 0.9% during the three months ended March 31, 2022.
Stockholders' equity equaled $320.5 million or $44.64 per share at March 31, 2022, and $340.1 million or $47.44 per share at December 31, 2021. The decrease in stockholders’ equity from December 31, 2021 is primarily attributable to a decrease to accumulated other comprehensive income (“AOCI”) resulting from an increase to the unrealized loss on investment securities and dividends paid to shareholders, partially offset by net income. Tangible stockholders' equity decreased to $35.76 per share at March 31, 2022, from $38.54 per share at December 31, 2021. Dividends declared for the three months ended March 31, 2022 amounted to $0.39 per share, a 5.4% increase from the 2021 period, representing a dividend payout ratio of 29.3%. During the quarter, 6,714 shares were purchased and retired under the Company’s common stock repurchase plan.
ASSET QUALITY REVIEW
Nonperforming assets were $4.7 million or 0.20% of loans, net and foreclosed assets at March 31, 2022, compared to $5.0 million or 0.21% of loans, net and foreclosed assets at December 31, 2021. As a percentage of total assets, nonperforming assets improved to 0.14% at March 31, 2022 compared to 0.15% at December 31, 2021. The decrease in non-performing assets from the previous quarter was primarily due to the sale in the current period of our foreclosed properties which totaled $0.5 million at December 31, 2021; at March 31, 2022 we have no foreclosed properties.
The Company's allowance for loan losses remained at $28.4 million as net charge-offs of $0.3 million was offset by a provision for loan losses of $0.3 million. The allowance for loan losses at March 31, 2022 continued to reflect the provisions added during 2020 from our adjustment of qualitative factors in our allowance for loan losses methodology, due to economic decline and expectation of increased credit losses from COVID-19's adverse impact on economic and business operating conditions. The allowance for loan losses equaled $28.4 million or 1.18% of loans, net at March 31, 2022 compared to $28.4 million or 1.22% of loans, net, at December 31, 2021. Excluding PPP loans which do not carry an allowance for loan losses due to a 100% government guarantee, the ratio equaled 1.20% at March 31, 2022. Loans charged-off, net of recoveries, for the three months ended March 31, 2022, equaled $0.3 million or 0.05% of average loans, compared to $0.1 million or 0.01% of average loans for the comparable period last year.