You are given a text that consists of multiple sentences. Your task is to perform abstractive summarization on this text. Use your understanding of the content to express the main ideas and crucial details in a shorter, coherent, and natural sounding text. 
Text: In the third quarter Cullen/Frost earned $109.8 million or $1.73 per diluted common share compared with earnings of $115.8 million or $1.78 a share reported in the same quarter of last year.
Our return on average assets was 1.35% for the quarter compared to 1.49% in the third quarter last year.
Average deposits in the third quarter were up to $26.4 billion compared with $26.2 billion in the third quarter of last year.
Average loans in the third quarter were $14.5 billion up 5.8% from the third quarter of last year.
We continue to see growth in our C&I CRE and Consumer segments.
Our provision for loan losses was $8 million in the third quarter compared to $6.4 million in the second quarter of 2019 and $2.7 million in the third quarter of 2018.
Net charge-offs for the third quarter were $6.4 million compared with $15.3 million for the third quarter of last year.
Third quarter annualized net charge-offs were only 17 basis points of average loans.
Nonperforming assets were $105 million at the end of the third quarter compared to $76.4 million in the second quarter of 2019 and $86.4 million in the third quarter of last year.
The increase in the third quarter related to a single energy credit which have been included in problem energy loans since early 2016.
Overall delinquencies for accruing loans at the end of the third quarter were $100 million or 69 basis points of period end loans.
Those numbers remain well within our standards and comparable to what we have experienced in the past several years.
Our overall credit quality remains good.
Total problem loans which we define as risk grade 10 and higher of $487 million at the end of the third quarter compared to $457 million in the second quarter of this year and $504 million for the third quarter of last year.
Energy-related problem loans declined to $87.2 million at the end of the third quarter compared to $93.6 million at the end of the second quarter and $138.8 million in the third quarter of last year.
Energy loans in general represented 10.5% of our portfolio at the end of the third quarter well below our peak of more than 16% in 2015.
Our focus for commercial loans continues to be on consistent balanced growth including both the core component which we define as lending relationships under $10 million in size as well as larger relationships while maintaining our quality standards.
New relationships increased 5% versus the third quarter a year ago.
The dollar amount of new loan commitments booked during the third quarter dropped by 14% compared to the prior year with decreases in C&I public finance and energy but a slight increase in CRE amendments.
Similar to what we discussed last quarter we are looking at lots of deals but our booking ratio was down particularly in commercial real estate.
In the current quarter our booking ratio for CRE was 24% versus 32% in the prior year.
Overall in the third quarter we saw our percentage of deals lost to structure increase from 56% to 61% versus a year ago.
I was pleased to see our weighted current active loan pipeline in the third quarter was up by about 30% compared with the end of the second quarter due to higher levels of C&I opportunities.
So we are seeing good activity and I'm expecting some good growth in the fourth quarter.
In Consumer Banking our value proposition and award-winning service and technology continued to attract customers.
The fourth fifth and sixth of the 25 new financial centers planned over the next two years in Houston opened in the third quarter and we have already opened the seventh so far in the fourth quarter with more to come before the end of this year.
Overall net new consumer customer growth for the third quarter was up by 48% compared with a year ago.
So far this year same-store sales as measured by account openings increased by 14% compared to a year ago.
In the third quarter just under 30% of our account openings came from our online channel which includes our Frost Bank mobile app.
This channel continues to grow.
In fact online account openings were 56% higher during the quarter compared to the previous year.
The consumer loan portfolio averaged $1.7 billion in the third quarter increasing by 1.9% compared to the third quarter of last year.
I continue to be extremely proud of our banking insurance and wealth advisory staff executing our strategy of organic growth consistent with our strong culture.
The interest rate environment presents challenges to our industry but we continue to focus on the fundamentals and growing our lines of business in line with our quality standards.
To sum up Frost has received the highest ranking in customer satisfaction in Texas in J.D. Power's U.S. Retail Banking Satisfaction Study for 10 years in a row.
We have received more Greenwich excellence and best brand awards for small business and middle-market banking than any other bank nationwide for three consecutive years and we have once again been named the best Bank in Texas by money magazine.
You don't do that without great people dedicated to providing the kind of service that makes people's lives better.
I'll make a few comments about the Texas economy before providing some additional information about our financial performance for the quarter and I'll close with our guidance for full year 2019.
Regarding the economy Texas unemployment remained at the historically low level of 3.4% for the fifth month in a row in September.
Texas job growth continued at a healthy pace but decelerated during the third quarter coming in at 3% in July 1.8% in August and 0.9% in September compared to the 2.3% growth seen in the first six months of the year.
The Dallas Fed currently estimates Texas job growth at 2.1% for full year 2019.
In terms of employment growth by industry construction has been especially strong growing at 6% year-to-date followed by manufacturing job growth of 2.7%.
Energy industry job growth has weakened and now stands at 1.6% year-to-date however energy job growth was negative in the third quarter.
Looking at individual markets.
Houston economic growth was slightly ahead of historical trends in the third quarter.
The Fed's Houston business Cycle Index saw to a 3.9% growth rate in September but remains above its historical average of 3.5%.
Year-to-date Houston employment is up 2% with third quarter growth slightly better at 2.2%.
The construction sector saw 7.3% job growth in the nine months through September.
The strongest growth of any sector in the Houston economy.
Houston's unemployment rate fell slightly to 3.6% in September.
The Dallas business cycle index expanded at a 4.4% annual rate in the third quarter while the Fort Worth business cycle index expanded at a 3.5% annual rate.
In September the unemployment rate fell to 3.1% in Dallas and 3.2% in Fort Worth.
The Austin economy also remained healthy in August.
The Austin business cycle index grew at a 7.8% annualized rate.
Austin's unemployment rate stood at 2.7%.
The information sector saw by far the fastest job creation in Austin in the year-to-date period with job growth of 23% over the prior year period.
Growth in the San Antonio economy accelerated in September.
The San Antonio business cycle index expanded its fastest pace since 2016 growing at a 3.8% rate in September well above its long-term trend of 2.9%.
San Antonio's unemployment rate decreased slightly to 3% as of September.
The Permian Basin economy showed year-to-date job growth of 0.2% through September with unemployment of 2.3% remaining well below the state's overall 3.4%.
Looking at our net interest margin.
Our net interest margin percentage for the third quarter was 3.76% down nine basis points from the 385 -- 3.85% reported last quarter.
The decrease primarily resulted from lower yields on loans and balances at the Fed partially offset by lower funding costs.
The taxable equivalent loan yield for the third quarter was 5.16% down 18 basis points from the second quarter.
Looking at our investment portfolio the total investment portfolio averaged $13.4 billion during the third quarter up about $122 million from the second quarter average of $13.3 billion.
The taxable equivalent yield on the investment portfolio was 3.43% in the third quarter up one basis point from the second quarter.
Our municipal portfolio averaged about $8.2 billion during the third quarter flat with the second quarter.
During the third quarter we purchased about $100 million in agency mortgage-backed securities yielding 2.63% and about $260 million in municipal securities with a TE yield of 3.31%.
The municipal portfolio had a taxable equivalent yield for the third quarter of 4.08% up two basis points from the previous quarter.
At the end of the third quarter about 2/3 of the municipal portfolio was PSF insured.
The duration of the investment portfolio at the end of the quarter was 4.3 years flat with the previous quarter.
Looking at our funding sources.
The cost of total deposits for the third quarter was 39 basis points down two basis points from the second quarter.
The cost of combined Fed funds purchased and repurchase agreements which consists primarily of customer repos decreased 16 basis points to 1.53% for the third quarter from 1.69% in the previous quarter.
Those balances averaged about $1.29 billion during the third quarter up about $49 million from the previous quarter.
Moving to noninterest expenses.
Total noninterest expense for the quarter increased approximately $15.2 million or 7.8% compared to the third quarter last year.
Excluding the impact of the Houston expansion and the increased operating costs associated with our headquarter's move in downtown San Antonio noninterest expense growth with an approximately 4.3%.
Regarding the assets for full year 2019 reported earnings we currently believe that the mean of analyst estimates of $6.81 is reasonable.
Now I'll open up the call to questions.

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q3 earnings per share $1.73.
increases quarterly cash dividend by 6 percent to $0.71per share.

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