City National Corp. reported first quarter profit that missed Wall Street estimates.

The Beverly Hills-based bank company reported net income of $44 million (91 cents per share), a 21 percent drop from $56.5 million ($1.15) from the same period a year earlier. Analysts were expecting 96 cents a share, according to Reuters.

The company said profit was hurt because it had to set aside $17 million to meet loan losses. The bank company did not have any loan losses for the year-ago quarter.

City National added that it expects loan loss provisions for 2008 to be $15 million to $20 million per quarter and expects earnings to be 17 percent to 22 percent lower than the $4.52 per share it earned in 2007.

Shares in City National were down 3 percent to $46.44 in early trading Friday.