Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Grows Position in M&T Bank Co. (NYSE:MTB)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its position in shares of M&T Bank Co. (NYSE:MTB) by 54.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 123,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,176 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in M&T Bank were worth $23,144,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MTB. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in M&T Bank by 6.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,773,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,562,725,000 after purchasing an additional 527,854 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of M&T Bank by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,289,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $994,522,000 after acquiring an additional 252,583 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of M&T Bank by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,329,814 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $768,824,000 after acquiring an additional 66,337 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its holdings in M&T Bank by 43.5% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 807,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $154,315,000 after acquiring an additional 244,709 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in M&T Bank by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 604,317 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $113,618,000 after purchasing an additional 11,365 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on MTB. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on M&T Bank from $234.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of M&T Bank from $222.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Compass Point increased their target price on shares of M&T Bank from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $223.50 price target (up previously from $215.00) on shares of M&T Bank in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on M&T Bank from $230.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $219.97.

M&T Bank Stock Performance

M&T Bank stock opened at $179.64 on Friday. M&T Bank Co. has a 1-year low of $133.03 and a 1-year high of $225.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.51 billion, a PE ratio of 12.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $189.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $192.40.

M&T Bank (NYSE:MTB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.22. M&T Bank had a net margin of 19.24% and a return on equity of 10.12%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.74 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that M&T Bank Co. will post 16.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

M&T Bank Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. M&T Bank’s payout ratio is 36.91%.

M&T Bank declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 22nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 12.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at M&T Bank

In other M&T Bank news, EVP Christopher E. Kay sold 1,738 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.34, for a total value of $299,526.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,852,827.34. The trade was a 13.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

M&T Bank Company Profile

M&T Bank Corp. operates as a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of retail and commercial banking, trust, wealth management, and investment services. It operates through the following segments: Commercial Bank, Retail Bank, Institutional Services and Wealth Management, and All Other.