Live Oak Bancshares’ net earnings reported this week rose significantly in the fourth quarter of 2015, compared both to its third quarter earnings and to those of the fourth quarter of 2014. This was the second quarterly report since the company went public in July.

In a news release Wednesday, Wilmington-based Live Oak Bancshares reported fourth quarter net earnings of $5.7 million, or 16 cents per diluted share. Those figures are up from the company’s third quarter net income of $2.9 million, or 9 cents per diluted share, and from the fourth quarter of 2014 net income of $2.4 million, or 8 cents per diluted share. Year over year, earnings per share rose 59 percent.

Live Oak’s net income for all of 2015 was $20.6 million or 65 cents per diluted share, compared with the previous year’s net income of $10 million, or 41 cents per diluted share. That’s an increase of 59 percent in earnings per share.

Ahead of Live Oak’s report, Zacks Investment Research stated that analysts estimated the company’s earnings per share for the fourth quarter of 2015 would be in the 14-15 cents range, and that the full year’s EPS would be about 56 cents.

“Live Oak’s strong core performance was driven by higher levels of net interest income combined with increased revenues from the sale and servicing of loans," Live Oak chairman and CEO Chip Mahan said in the release. "A key driver of our success is evidenced by $330.8 million in small business loan originations in the fourth quarter, bringing our 2015 total originations to $1.16 billion."

That $330.8 million in loan production is higher than the bank’s loan origination of $303 million in the third quarter of 2015 and $262.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to the release. Total loan production in 2015 was up 37 percent from $848 million in 2014.

As of 2:40 p.m. Thursday, Live Oak (LOB) shares on Nasdaq were trading at $13.87 per share, slightly down from the day’s opening price of $13.98. Wednesday's close was at $13.09.

Live Oak Bank is the nation’s second-largest SBA lender in terms of dollars, according to the SBA. In the 2014-15 federal fiscal year ended Sept. 30, Live Oak Bank made 966 SBA loans. It lends to small businesses in selected industries. Currently, those targeted industries are veterinary, medical and dental, pharmacy, funeral homes, family entertainment centers, hotels, insurance, agriculture, wine and craft beverage, self storage and investment advisory.