NBT Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:NBTB) Short Interest Up 34.1% in December

NBT Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:NBTB) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,770,000 shares, a growth of 34.1% from the December 15th total of 1,320,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 221,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.0 days.

NBT Bancorp Trading Down 1.0 %

NBTB traded down $0.46 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $47.16. 306,646 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 194,945. NBT Bancorp has a 52 week low of $32.79 and a 52 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 fifty day moving average of $49.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.61 and a beta of 0.53.

NBT Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBTB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The bank reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 prior year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that NBT Bancorp will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NBT Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NBT Bancorp news, EVP Amy Wiles sold 1,000 shares of NBT Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.10, for a total transaction of $50,100.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,398,240.90. This trade represents a 3.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 company’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 sale, the director now directly owns 143,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,503,940.45. This trade represents a 12.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 81,694 shares of company stock valued at $4,048,185 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NBTB. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 46,498 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in shares of NBT Bancorp during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,974,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT lifted its holdings in shares of NBT Bancorp by 49.6% during 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 during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of 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 bought a new stake in shares of NBT Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $214,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on NBTB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on NBT Bancorp from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson started coverage on NBT Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com lowered NBT Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.80.

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.