NBT Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBTB) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Sell”

StockNews.com downgraded shares of NBT Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBTB) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Thursday morning.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on NBTB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on NBT Bancorp from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson began coverage on NBT Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $60.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NBT Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.80.

NBT Bancorp Trading Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ NBTB opened at $47.16 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.61 and a beta of 0.53. The business’s fifty day moving average is $49.09 and its 200-day moving average is $46.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. NBT Bancorp has a one year low of $32.79 and a one year high of $52.44.

NBT Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBTB) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. NBT Bancorp had a net margin of 17.37% and a return on equity of 9.36%. The firm had revenue of $202.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that NBT Bancorp will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

NBT Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. NBT Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NBT Bancorp news, Director Jack H. Webb sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.06, for a total value of $500,600.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 45,018 shares in the company, valued at $2,253,601.08. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John H. Watt, Jr. sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.45, for a total transaction of $909,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 143,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,503,940.45. The trade was a 12.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 81,694 shares of company stock worth $4,048,185 in the last quarter. 3.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NBT Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in NBT Bancorp by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,297,333 shares of the bank’s stock worth $88,675,000 after acquiring an additional 46,498 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in shares of NBT Bancorp in the second quarter worth approximately $1,974,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 9,349 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in NBT Bancorp by 7.4% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 103,705 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,003,000 after purchasing an additional 7,183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in NBT Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $214,000. Hedge funds and other 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.