Hart Capital Management Inc., of Spokane, says the composite value of the 10 publicly traded Inland Northwest companies rose to $10.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016, an increase of $286 million, or 3 percent, from the previous quarter.

It’s the fifth straight quarter the companies’ composite value has risen. Hart Capital tracks the performance of the largest and most influential publicly traded companies in the region.

Ambassadors Group Inc., of Spokane, closed at the end of 2015, reducing the region’s publicly traded companies from 11 to 10. The composite value of those 11 companies experienced declines in the first three quarters of 2015.

The composite value of the 11 companies at the end of the third quarter of 2015 was $7 billion. The composite value rose to $7.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2015, $8.2 billion in the first quarter of 2016, $9.8 billion in the second quarter, and $10.6 billion in the third quarter.

For all of 2016, the composite rose $3.7 billion, or 51 percent, Hart Capital says.

For the year, with a rebound in gold and silver prices, Coeur d’Alene-based Hecla Mining Co. led the composite with an increase of $1.4 billion in market capitalization, while Liberty Lake-based Itron Inc. saw an increase of $1 billion.

During the fourth quarter, seven of the 10 tracked companies experienced an increase in market capitalization. Itron led the group with a $272 million, or 11 percent, increase in market capitalization. Potlatch Corp., of Spokane, followed with a composite increase of $112 million, and Washington Trust Bank Financial Corp., also based here, saw a $106 million rise in market capitalization.

Including Ambassadors, five publicly traded companies based here have been dropped from the list over the last several years due to closures or acquisitions. The others include Coeur Mining Inc., Intermountain Community Bancorp, Sterling Financial Corp., and Coldwater Creek Inc.

Hart Capital also maintains the Inland Northwest Index, which tracks companies in a methodology similar that that of the S&P 500. In 2016, eight of the 10 Inland Northwest companies had indices that outperformed the S&P 500. Overall, the Hart Capital Inland Northwest Index increased by 40.2 percent against a 9.5 percent increase in the S&P 500.

Hart Capital assigned a value of 100 to both the S&P 500 and the Hart Index in 2002 when it began calculating aggregate performance. At the end of the fourth quarter 2016, the Hart index was at 295, compared to 254 for the S&P 500.

Washington Trust Bank Financial led the quarterly index with a 20 percent increase in stock price from the third to fourth quarter, says Hart Capital.

“The company’s strong performance was mainly attributed to rising interest rates throughout the quarter and the expectation that the banking sector will experience stronger profitability in a rising interest rate environment,” Hart Capital says in a press release.

Other top quarterly performers included Idaho Independent Bank, Itron, and Northwest Bancorporation Inc., the Spokane-based parent of Inland Northwest Bank, rising 15 percent, 13 percent, and 11 percent, respectively, its data show.

Hart Capital is best known regionally for a focus on investment planning and portfolio management.

The firm recently has been expanding its list of client services to include financial, retirement, estate planning, Social Security analysis, 401(k) and IRA distribution, and management of funds for life events, such as divorce or inheritance.

Now 18 years old, the firm last year opened an office in Coeur d’Alene. Hart Capital has 300 clients and manages assets exceeding $300 million, says Craig Hart, the investment firm’s president and chief investment officer.