NBT Bancorp Inc. (Nasdaq: NBTB), the parent company of NBT Bank, posted an increase in first-quarter earnings and deposits while pledging to preserve balance sheet strength.
Net income for the quarter ended March 31 rose to $51.1 million, or 98 cents per diluted common share, from $36.7 million, or 77 cents per diluted common share, a year earlier.
Operating diluted earnings per share amounted to 97 cents, up from 80 cents a year earlier but missing the 98 cents per share estimate of analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research. Over the last three quarters, the company has surpassed consensus earnings forecasts three times.
Net interest income was $134.3 million, climbing 25.3% year-over-year.
NBT Bank, which has had a commercial lending office in Portland since 2014, opened a retail branch earlier this year at 191 Marginal Way.
Balance sheet focus
Scott Kingsley, NBT’s president and CEO, said results were consistent with seasonal expectations and attributed earnings growth to continued net interest margin expansion, higher net interest income and strong performance of fee-based businesses.
“We delivered solid first-quarter results that reflect disciplined execution across our franchise and provided meaningful improvement in profitability compared to the first quarter of 2025,” he said in Friday’s earnings release.
“We remain focused on disciplined balance sheet management and continued investment in our people, markets and platform to drive long-term shareholder value,” he added.
Total deposits at the end of Q1 were $13.7 billion, up from $13.5 billon at Dec. 31, 2025, and from $11.7 billion the same period last year, driven by growth across all business segments.
Last year’s acquisition of Evans Bancorp Inc. added $1.86 billion in deposits, along with 200 employees and 18 banking locations in western New York.
In connection with that transaction, NBT said it issued 5.1 million shares of common stock, with a value of $221.8 million as of the closing date. NBT said the comparison to the first quarter of 2025 is “significantly impacted by the Evans acquisition.”
As of Friday’s close on Wall Street, NBT shares have a market value of $2.25 billion, an increase of 1.8% over a year ago.
