S&T Bancorp (NASDAQ:STBA) Stock Lifted to “Hold” by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of S&T Bancorp (NASDAQ:STBA) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Sunday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on STBA. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of S&T Bancorp from $47.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research cut shares of S&T Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of S&T Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on S&T Bancorp from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of S&T Bancorp in a report on Friday, July 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.60.

S&T Bancorp Price Performance

STBA opened at $48.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.78 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $50.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.51. S&T Bancorp has a 1 year low of $34.38 and a 1 year high of $53.50.

S&T Bancorp (NASDAQ:STBA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $105.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $104.43 million. S&T Bancorp had a net margin of 24.51% and a return on equity of 9.74%. As a group, analysts anticipate that S&T Bancorp will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&T Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 18th were issued a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 18th. S&T Bancorp’s payout ratio is 39.36%.

S&T Bancorp declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to buy back $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Share repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director William Hieb sold 11,979 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.34, for a total transaction of $615,001.86. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 17,344 shares in the company, valued at approximately $890,440.96. This trade represents a 40.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.23% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of S&T Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STBA. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in S&T Bancorp during the second quarter valued at $253,047,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in S&T Bancorp by 0.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,345,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $98,098,000 after buying an additional 6,583 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in S&T Bancorp in the second quarter worth $29,117,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of S&T Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $17,649,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of S&T Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $8,531,000. Institutional investors own 65.22% of the company’s stock.

S&T Bancorp Company Profile

S&T Bancorp, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Its principal subsidiary, S&T Bank, provides banking and financial services to consumers, businesses and institutions.

S&T Bank offers deposit accounts, residential and commercial real estate loans, consumer lending, business financing, treasury and cash-management services, online and mobile banking, and mortgage services. Through its wealth-management and trust operations, the bank also provides investment management, financial planning, fiduciary and estate-related services.

Founded in 1902, S&T Bancorp serves customers through a network of offices and digital banking channels in western and central Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio.