Ballentine Partners LLC Increases Holdings in M&T Bank Co. (NYSE:MTB)

Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in M&T Bank Co. (NYSE:MTB) by 23.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 398 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in M&T Bank were worth $400,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of M&T Bank by 34.7% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,473,000 after buying an additional 2,018 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of M&T Bank in the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of M&T Bank by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 199,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,466,000 after purchasing an additional 2,797 shares during the period. Smead Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of M&T Bank by 3.5% during the third quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 493,817 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,959,000 after purchasing an additional 16,657 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in M&T Bank by 6.1% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 50,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,955,000 after buying an additional 2,883 shares during the period. 84.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on MTB shares. Bank of America increased their target price on M&T Bank from $188.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Compass Point lifted their target price on M&T Bank from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup lowered shares of M&T Bank from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $220.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of M&T Bank from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of M&T Bank from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, M&T Bank currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $221.68.

M&T Bank Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MTB opened at $196.96 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. M&T Bank Co. has a 52 week low of $128.31 and a 52 week high of $225.70. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $201.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $184.73. The firm has a market cap of $32.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.79.

M&T Bank (NYSE:MTB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.74 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that M&T Bank Co. will post 16.56 earnings per share for the current year.

M&T Bank Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $1.35 dividend. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. M&T Bank’s payout ratio is presently 36.91%.

M&T Bank announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 22nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 12.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other M&T Bank news, CEO Rene F. Jones sold 23,071 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.88, for a total value of $4,473,005.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 77,226 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,972,576.88. This represents a 23.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP John R. Taylor sold 1,436 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.03, for a total value of $280,063.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 5,618 shares in the company, valued at $1,095,678.54. This trade represents a 20.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 64,994 shares of company stock worth $13,331,878. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

About M&T Bank

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: Business Banking, Commercial Banking, Commercial Real Estate, Discretionary Portfolio, Residential Mortgage Banking, and Retail Banking.