on august 8 , 2017 , we redeemed all 24,500 shares of the series d preferred stock at its liquidation value of $ 1,000 per share plus accrued dividends for a total redemption amount of $ 24.7 million . for further information , see note 24 – business combinations in the accompanying notes to the consolidated financial statements included in item 8 of this report . common stock offering on august 1 , 2017 , the company completed an underwritten common stock offering issuing 2,285,050 shares of the company 's common stock with $ 56.7 million in net proceeds after underwriting discounts and offering expenses . the company used a portion of the net proceeds of the offering to fund a portion of the consideration paid for the acquisition of liberty bancshares , inc. and for general corporate purposes . liberty bancshares , inc. on december 1 , 2017 , we acquired liberty , a texas corporation and parent company of liberty bank . we issued approximately 1,450,000 shares of its common stock and paid out $ 25.0 million in cash to liberty in consideration for the acquisition . we acquired an estimated $ 467.3 million in assets and assumed $ 401.9 million of liabilities as a result of this acquisition as of the closing date . for further information , see note 24 – business combinations in the accompanying notes to the consolidated financial statements included in item 8 of this report . 38 anticipated trends this discussion of trends expected to impact our business in 2018 is based on information presently available and reflects certain assumptions , including assuming a continuation of the current economic and low rate environment . differences in actual economic conditions compared with our assumptions could have a material impact on our results . see “ special cautionary notice regarding forward-looking statements ” and part i , item 1a , “ risk factors ” of this annual report on form 10-k for additional factors that could cause results to differ materially from those contemplated by the following forward-looking statements . we anticipate the following trends or events related to our business in fiscal year 2018 : continued emphasis on credit quality and relationship banking . continue to leverage our strong capital through accretive organic growth and merger and acquisition opportunities . continued meaningful costs savings from the recent acquisitions of sovereign and liberty , the consolidation of our back office functions into one operations center and the sale of our two non-core austin branches on january 1 , 2018. net interest income higher , reflecting full-year benefits from the 2017 rate increases and loan growth . net charge-offs to remain low , with continued solid performance of the overall loan portfolio . income tax expense to approximate 21 % of pre-tax income reflecting the enactment of the tax cuts and jobs act ( the “ tax act ” ) excluding discrete tax impact from the re-measurement of deferred taxes upon finalization of the provisional estimates for certain assets acquired and liabilities assumed in the sovereign and liberty acquisitions as well as discrete tax impact from deferred employee stock transactions . results of operations for the fiscal years ended december 31 , 2017 and december 31 , 2016 general net income available to common stockholders for the year ended december 31 , 2017 was $ 15.1 million , an increase of $ 2.5 million , or 20.4 % , from net income available to common stockholders of $ 12.6 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016. net income available to common stockholders for the 2017 period was negatively impacted by a $ 3.1 million re-measurement of our deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities due to our new effective tax rate under the tax act . basic earnings per share ( “ eps ” ) for the year ended december 31 , 2017 was $ 0.82 , a decrease of $ 0.34 from $ 1.16 for the year ended december 31 , 2016. diluted earnings per share for the year ended december 31 , 2017 was $ 0.80 , a decrease of $ 0.33 from $ 1.13 for the year ended december 31 , 2016. net interest income our operating results depend primarily on our net interest income , calculated as the difference between interest income on interest-earning assets , such as loans and securities , and interest expense on interest-bearing liabilities , such as deposits and borrowings . fluctuations in market interest rates impact the yield and rates paid on interest sensitive assets and liabilities . changes in the amount and type of interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities also impact net interest income . the variance driven by the changes in the amount and mix of interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities is referred to as a “ volume change . ” changes in yields earned on interest-earning assets and rates paid on interest-bearing deposits and other borrowed funds are referred to as a “ rate change . ” to evaluate net interest income , we measure and monitor ( 1 ) yields on our loans and other interest-earning assets , ( 2 ) the costs of our deposits and other funding sources , ( 3 ) our net interest spread and ( 4 ) our net interest margin . net interest spread is the difference between rates earned on interest-earning assets and rates paid on interest-bearing liabilities . net interest margin is a ratio calculated as net interest income divided by average interest-earning assets . because noninterest-bearing sources of funds , such as noninterest-bearing deposits and stockholders ' equity also fund interest-earning assets , net interest margin includes the benefit of these noninterest-bearing sources . for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , net interest income totaled $ 68.5 million compared with net interest income of $ 41.0 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , an increase of $ 27.5 million , or 67.3 % . story_separator_special_tag this increase was primarily due to a $ 11.7 million , or 33.4 % , increase in interest income resulting from growth in the company 's average interest-earning assets which was partially offset by an increase in interest expense of $ 2.2 million , or 63.0 % , for the year ended december 31 , 2016. interest income was $ 46.6 million compared to $ 34.9 million for the years ended december 31 , 2016 and 2015 , respectively . the primary driver of increased interest income was the growth on interest earned on average loans . interest earned on average loans outstanding for the year ended december 31 , 2016 compared to average loans outstanding for the year ended december 31 , 2015 increased $ 11.0 million , or 32.7 % . the growth in average loans was the result of the acquisition of ibt bancorp , inc. ( “ ibt ” ) , which closed on july 1 , 2015 , new loan originations , and growth of existing customer loan balances . average loan balances grew from $ 697.4 million for the year ended december 31 , 2015 to $ 924.5 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , an increase of $ 227.0 million , or 32.6 % . interest expense for the year ended december 31 , 2016 was $ 5.6 million compared to $ 3.5 million for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 2.2 million , or 63.0 % . the year-over-year increase was due to growth of average interest bearing-liabilities of $ 238.4 million , or 47.5 % , primarily due to the increase in interest bearing liabilities acquired in the ibt acquisition and organic growth in average interest bearing deposits , advances from fhlb and other borrowings . net interest margin and net interest spread were 3.72 % and 3.47 % , respectively , for the year ended december 31 , 2016 compared to 3.80 % and 3.53 % , respectively , for the year ended december 31 , 2015. the decrease in net interest margin by 8 basis points and decrease in net interest spread by 6 basis points was primarily due to an increase in the average yield paid on interest-bearing liabilities by 7 basis points . the average interest paid on interest-bearing liabilities increased to 0.76 % during the year ended december 31 , 2016 from 0.69 % for the year ended december 31 , 2015 . competition for new deposits in our market reduced our ability to grow noninterest-bearing deposits consistent with prior year 's growth rate . the average balance of noninterest-bearing deposits grew to $ 302.5 million from $ 267.6 million for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 35.0 million , or 13.1 % . the ratio of average noninterest-bearing deposits to average noninterest-bearing deposits plus average interest-bearing deposits declined to 30.5 % for the year-ended december 31 , 2016 from 36.0 % for the year ended december 31 , 2015. average interest-bearing deposits grew to $ 689.0 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 from $ 475.0 million for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 213.9 million , or 45.0 % , which was primarily due to increases in average outstanding money market balances . this was the result of new relationships originated from our new correspondent banking group that successfully grew our financial institution money market deposit product . this product was offered at an introductory rate above the average rate paid on our traditional money market accounts and , as a result , interest-bearing deposit rates increased to 0.72 % from 0.61 % . partially offsetting this increase was a decrease in the average rate paid on advances from fhlb as average balances outstanding grew to $ 43.6 million with an average yield of 0.60 % for the year ended december 31 , 2016 from $ 18.1 million with an average yield of 0.88 % for the year ended december 31 , 2015. the following table presents , for the periods indicated , an analysis of net interest income by each major category of interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities , the average amounts outstanding and the interest earned or paid on such amounts . the table also sets forth the average rate earned on interest-earning assets , the average rate paid on interest-bearing liabilities , and the net interest margin on average total interest-earning assets for the same periods . interest earned on loans that are classified as non-accrual is not recognized in income ; however , the balances are reflected in average outstanding balances for the period . for the years ended december 31 , 2016 and 2015 , interest income not recognized on non-accrual loans was minimal . any non-accrual loans have been included in the table as loans carrying a zero yield . 46 replace_table_token_9_th ( 1 ) includes average outstanding balances of loans held for sale of $ 5,078 , and $ 3,134 for the years ended december 31 , 2016 and 2015 , respectively . ( 2 ) net interest rate spread is the average yield on interest-earning assets minus the average rate on interest-bearing liabilities . ( 3 ) net interest margin is equal to net interest income divided by average interest-earning assets . 47 the following table presents information regarding the dollar amount of changes in interest income and interest expense for the periods indicated for each major component of interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities and distinguishes between the changes attributable to changes in volume and changes attributable to changes in interest rates . for purposes of this table , changes attributable to both rate and volume that can not be segregated have been allocated to rate . replace_table_token_10_th provision for loan losses our provision for loan losses is a charge to income in order to bring our allowance for loan losses to a

liquidity and capital resources liquidity liquidity involves our ability to raise funds to support asset growth and acquisitions or reduce assets to meet deposit withdrawals and other payment obligations , to maintain reserve requirements and otherwise to operate on an ongoing basis and manage unexpected events . for the years ended december 31 , 2017 , 2016 and 2015 , our liquidity needs were primarily met by core deposits , wholesale borrowings , proceeds from the sale of common stock in an underwritten public offering during 2017 , security and loan maturities and amortizing investment and loan portfolios . use of brokered deposits , purchased funds from correspondent banks and overnight advances from the fhlb and the frb are available and have been utilized to take advantage of the cost of these funding sources . we maintained two lines of credit with commercial banks that provide for extensions of credit with an availability to borrow up to an aggregate $ 55 million as of december 31 , 2017 and $ 14.6 million as of december 31 , 2016 and 2015 . there were no advances under these lines of credit outstanding as of december 31 , 2017 , 2016 and 2015 . the following table illustrates , during the periods presented , the mix of our funding sources and the average assets in which those funds are invested as a percentage of our average total assets for the period indicated . average assets totaled $ 2.0 billion for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , $ 1.2 billion for the year ended december 31 , 2016 and $ 898.8 million for the year ended december 31 , 2015 . replace_table_token_29_th our primary source of funds is deposits , and our primary use of funds is loans . we do not expect a change in the primary source or use of our funds in the foreseeable future .


 Write a concise suspicious activity report of the following text delimited by triple backquotes. Return your response as a formal report which covers the key points highlighting the location,dates,entity names and account holder information in chronological order of the text.
     ```liquidity and capital resources liquidity liquidity involves our ability to raise funds to support asset growth and acquisitions or reduce assets to meet deposit withdrawals and other payment obligations , to maintain reserve requirements and otherwise to operate on an ongoing basis and manage unexpected events . for the years ended december 31 , 2017 , 2016 and 2015 , our liquidity needs were primarily met by core deposits , wholesale borrowings , proceeds from the sale of common stock in an underwritten public offering during 2017 , security and loan maturities and amortizing investment and loan portfolios . use of brokered deposits , purchased funds from correspondent banks and overnight advances from the fhlb and the frb are available and have been utilized to take advantage of the cost of these funding sources . we maintained two lines of credit with commercial banks that provide for extensions of credit with an availability to borrow up to an aggregate $ 55 million as of december 31 , 2017 and $ 14.6 million as of december 31 , 2016 and 2015 . there were no advances under these lines of credit outstanding as of december 31 , 2017 , 2016 and 2015 . the following table illustrates , during the periods presented , the mix of our funding sources and the average assets in which those funds are invested as a percentage of our average total assets for the period indicated . average assets totaled $ 2.0 billion for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , $ 1.2 billion for the year ended december 31 , 2016 and $ 898.8 million for the year ended december 31 , 2015 . replace_table_token_29_th our primary source of funds is deposits , and our primary use of funds is loans . we do not expect a change in the primary source or use of our funds in the foreseeable future .
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 Suspicious Activity Report : on august 8 , 2017 , we redeemed all 24,500 shares of the series d preferred stock at its liquidation value of $ 1,000 per share plus accrued dividends for a total redemption amount of $ 24.7 million . for further information , see note 24 – business combinations in the accompanying notes to the consolidated financial statements included in item 8 of this report . common stock offering on august 1 , 2017 , the company completed an underwritten common stock offering issuing 2,285,050 shares of the company 's common stock with $ 56.7 million in net proceeds after underwriting discounts and offering expenses . the company used a portion of the net proceeds of the offering to fund a portion of the consideration paid for the acquisition of liberty bancshares , inc. and for general corporate purposes . liberty bancshares , inc. on december 1 , 2017 , we acquired liberty , a texas corporation and parent company of liberty bank . we issued approximately 1,450,000 shares of its common stock and paid out $ 25.0 million in cash to liberty in consideration for the acquisition . we acquired an estimated $ 467.3 million in assets and assumed $ 401.9 million of liabilities as a result of this acquisition as of the closing date . for further information , see note 24 – business combinations in the accompanying notes to the consolidated financial statements included in item 8 of this report . 38 anticipated trends this discussion of trends expected to impact our business in 2018 is based on information presently available and reflects certain assumptions , including assuming a continuation of the current economic and low rate environment . differences in actual economic conditions compared with our assumptions could have a material impact on our results . see “ special cautionary notice regarding forward-looking statements ” and part i , item 1a , “ risk factors ” of this annual report on form 10-k for additional factors that could cause results to differ materially from those contemplated by the following forward-looking statements . we anticipate the following trends or events related to our business in fiscal year 2018 : continued emphasis on credit quality and relationship banking . continue to leverage our strong capital through accretive organic growth and merger and acquisition opportunities . continued meaningful costs savings from the recent acquisitions of sovereign and liberty , the consolidation of our back office functions into one operations center and the sale of our two non-core austin branches on january 1 , 2018. net interest income higher , reflecting full-year benefits from the 2017 rate increases and loan growth . net charge-offs to remain low , with continued solid performance of the overall loan portfolio . income tax expense to approximate 21 % of pre-tax income reflecting the enactment of the tax cuts and jobs act ( the “ tax act ” ) excluding discrete tax impact from the re-measurement of deferred taxes upon finalization of the provisional estimates for certain assets acquired and liabilities assumed in the sovereign and liberty acquisitions as well as discrete tax impact from deferred employee stock transactions . results of operations for the fiscal years ended december 31 , 2017 and december 31 , 2016 general net income available to common stockholders for the year ended december 31 , 2017 was $ 15.1 million , an increase of $ 2.5 million , or 20.4 % , from net income available to common stockholders of $ 12.6 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016. net income available to common stockholders for the 2017 period was negatively impacted by a $ 3.1 million re-measurement of our deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities due to our new effective tax rate under the tax act . basic earnings per share ( “ eps ” ) for the year ended december 31 , 2017 was $ 0.82 , a decrease of $ 0.34 from $ 1.16 for the year ended december 31 , 2016. diluted earnings per share for the year ended december 31 , 2017 was $ 0.80 , a decrease of $ 0.33 from $ 1.13 for the year ended december 31 , 2016. net interest income our operating results depend primarily on our net interest income , calculated as the difference between interest income on interest-earning assets , such as loans and securities , and interest expense on interest-bearing liabilities , such as deposits and borrowings . fluctuations in market interest rates impact the yield and rates paid on interest sensitive assets and liabilities . changes in the amount and type of interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities also impact net interest income . the variance driven by the changes in the amount and mix of interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities is referred to as a “ volume change . ” changes in yields earned on interest-earning assets and rates paid on interest-bearing deposits and other borrowed funds are referred to as a “ rate change . ” to evaluate net interest income , we measure and monitor ( 1 ) yields on our loans and other interest-earning assets , ( 2 ) the costs of our deposits and other funding sources , ( 3 ) our net interest spread and ( 4 ) our net interest margin . net interest spread is the difference between rates earned on interest-earning assets and rates paid on interest-bearing liabilities . net interest margin is a ratio calculated as net interest income divided by average interest-earning assets . because noninterest-bearing sources of funds , such as noninterest-bearing deposits and stockholders ' equity also fund interest-earning assets , net interest margin includes the benefit of these noninterest-bearing sources . for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , net interest income totaled $ 68.5 million compared with net interest income of $ 41.0 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , an increase of $ 27.5 million , or 67.3 % . story_separator_special_tag this increase was primarily due to a $ 11.7 million , or 33.4 % , increase in interest income resulting from growth in the company 's average interest-earning assets which was partially offset by an increase in interest expense of $ 2.2 million , or 63.0 % , for the year ended december 31 , 2016. interest income was $ 46.6 million compared to $ 34.9 million for the years ended december 31 , 2016 and 2015 , respectively . the primary driver of increased interest income was the growth on interest earned on average loans . interest earned on average loans outstanding for the year ended december 31 , 2016 compared to average loans outstanding for the year ended december 31 , 2015 increased $ 11.0 million , or 32.7 % . the growth in average loans was the result of the acquisition of ibt bancorp , inc. ( “ ibt ” ) , which closed on july 1 , 2015 , new loan originations , and growth of existing customer loan balances . average loan balances grew from $ 697.4 million for the year ended december 31 , 2015 to $ 924.5 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , an increase of $ 227.0 million , or 32.6 % . interest expense for the year ended december 31 , 2016 was $ 5.6 million compared to $ 3.5 million for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 2.2 million , or 63.0 % . the year-over-year increase was due to growth of average interest bearing-liabilities of $ 238.4 million , or 47.5 % , primarily due to the increase in interest bearing liabilities acquired in the ibt acquisition and organic growth in average interest bearing deposits , advances from fhlb and other borrowings . net interest margin and net interest spread were 3.72 % and 3.47 % , respectively , for the year ended december 31 , 2016 compared to 3.80 % and 3.53 % , respectively , for the year ended december 31 , 2015. the decrease in net interest margin by 8 basis points and decrease in net interest spread by 6 basis points was primarily due to an increase in the average yield paid on interest-bearing liabilities by 7 basis points . the average interest paid on interest-bearing liabilities increased to 0.76 % during the year ended december 31 , 2016 from 0.69 % for the year ended december 31 , 2015 . competition for new deposits in our market reduced our ability to grow noninterest-bearing deposits consistent with prior year 's growth rate . the average balance of noninterest-bearing deposits grew to $ 302.5 million from $ 267.6 million for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 35.0 million , or 13.1 % . the ratio of average noninterest-bearing deposits to average noninterest-bearing deposits plus average interest-bearing deposits declined to 30.5 % for the year-ended december 31 , 2016 from 36.0 % for the year ended december 31 , 2015. average interest-bearing deposits grew to $ 689.0 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 from $ 475.0 million for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 213.9 million , or 45.0 % , which was primarily due to increases in average outstanding money market balances . this was the result of new relationships originated from our new correspondent banking group that successfully grew our financial institution money market deposit product . this product was offered at an introductory rate above the average rate paid on our traditional money market accounts and , as a result , interest-bearing deposit rates increased to 0.72 % from 0.61 % . partially offsetting this increase was a decrease in the average rate paid on advances from fhlb as average balances outstanding grew to $ 43.6 million with an average yield of 0.60 % for the year ended december 31 , 2016 from $ 18.1 million with an average yield of 0.88 % for the year ended december 31 , 2015. the following table presents , for the periods indicated , an analysis of net interest income by each major category of interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities , the average amounts outstanding and the interest earned or paid on such amounts . the table also sets forth the average rate earned on interest-earning assets , the average rate paid on interest-bearing liabilities , and the net interest margin on average total interest-earning assets for the same periods . interest earned on loans that are classified as non-accrual is not recognized in income ; however , the balances are reflected in average outstanding balances for the period . for the years ended december 31 , 2016 and 2015 , interest income not recognized on non-accrual loans was minimal . any non-accrual loans have been included in the table as loans carrying a zero yield . 46 replace_table_token_9_th ( 1 ) includes average outstanding balances of loans held for sale of $ 5,078 , and $ 3,134 for the years ended december 31 , 2016 and 2015 , respectively . ( 2 ) net interest rate spread is the average yield on interest-earning assets minus the average rate on interest-bearing liabilities . ( 3 ) net interest margin is equal to net interest income divided by average interest-earning assets . 47 the following table presents information regarding the dollar amount of changes in interest income and interest expense for the periods indicated for each major component of interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities and distinguishes between the changes attributable to changes in volume and changes attributable to changes in interest rates . for purposes of this table , changes attributable to both rate and volume that can not be segregated have been allocated to rate . replace_table_token_10_th provision for loan losses our provision for loan losses is a charge to income in order to bring our allowance for loan losses to a

