NBT Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:NBTB) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

NBT Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:NBTB) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $48.80.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of NBT Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of NBT Bancorp from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, DA Davidson assumed coverage on NBT Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $60.00 price target on the stock.

NBT Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NBT Bancorp stock opened at $45.20 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.28. NBT Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $32.79 and a fifty-two week high of $52.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $2.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.92 and a beta of 0.53.

NBT Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBTB) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $202.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.70 million. NBT Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.36% and a net margin of 17.37%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that NBT Bancorp will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NBT Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. NBT Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Timothy E. Delaney sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.47, for a total value of $2,058,800.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 38,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,999,763.91. The trade was a 50.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John H. Watt, Jr. sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.45, for a total value of $909,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 143,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,503,940.45. This trade represents a 12.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 81,694 shares of company stock worth $4,048,185. Corporate insiders own 3.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NBT Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NBTB. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of NBT Bancorp by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,199 shares of the bank’s stock worth $509,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in NBT Bancorp by 2.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,297,333 shares of the bank’s stock worth $88,675,000 after buying an additional 46,498 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in NBT Bancorp in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,974,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT lifted its position in shares of NBT Bancorp by 49.6% in the second quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 28,213 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after buying an additional 9,349 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of NBT Bancorp by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 103,705 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,003,000 after acquiring an additional 7,183 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.46% of the company’s stock.

About NBT Bancorp

NBT Bancorp Inc, a financial holding company, provides commercial banking, retail banking, and wealth management services. Its deposit products include demand deposit, savings, negotiable order of withdrawal, money market deposit, and certificate of deposit accounts. The company's loan portfolio comprises indirect and direct consumer, home equity, mortgages, business banking loans, and commercial loans; commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, agricultural, and commercial construction loans; and residential real estate loans.