NBT Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBTB) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of NBT Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBTB) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Tuesday.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on NBTB. DA Davidson initiated coverage on NBT Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 target price on shares of NBT Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on NBT Bancorp from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.80.

NBT Bancorp Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NBTB stock opened at $46.38 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.33 and a beta of 0.53. NBT Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $32.79 and a fifty-two week high of $52.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

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

NBT Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. NBT Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NBT Bancorp

In other 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 transaction of $2,058,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,853 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available at this link. Also, Director John H. Watt, Jr. sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.45, for a total value of $909,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 143,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,503,940.45. This represents a 12.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 81,694 shares of company stock valued at $4,048,185 in the last 90 days. 3.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NBT Bancorp

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in NBT Bancorp by 540.2% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 703,286 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,147,000 after acquiring an additional 593,436 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NBT Bancorp by 76.3% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 378,898 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,759,000 after purchasing an additional 163,952 shares during the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its holdings in NBT Bancorp by 14.9% in the second quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 828,440 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,978,000 after purchasing an additional 107,404 shares in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC increased its position in NBT Bancorp by 40.9% during the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 309,300 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,680,000 after buying an additional 89,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in NBT Bancorp by 472.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 74,468 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,379,000 after buying an additional 61,451 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.46% of the company’s stock.

NBT Bancorp Company Profile

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.