L.K. Benson & Company P.C. Makes New Investment in M&T Bank Co. (NYSE:MTB)

L.K. Benson & Company P.C. bought a new stake in M&T Bank Co. (NYSE:MTB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $835,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of M&T Bank by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,349,398 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,199,675,000 after buying an additional 1,508,846 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,562,725,000 after purchasing an additional 527,854 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of M&T Bank by 5.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 252,583 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new stake in shares of M&T Bank in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,422,000. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of M&T Bank by 43.5% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 807,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $154,315,000 after buying an additional 244,709 shares during the last quarter. 84.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on MTB shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on M&T Bank from $269.00 to $253.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of M&T Bank from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of M&T Bank from $222.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of M&T Bank from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $220.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $222.03.

Insider Activity

In other M&T Bank news, EVP Christopher E. Kay sold 1,738 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $299,526.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,852,827.34. This trade represents a 13.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

M&T Bank Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of MTB stock opened at $174.82 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. M&T Bank Co. has a 12 month low of $133.03 and a 12 month high of $225.70. The stock has a market cap of $28.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $191.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $192.21.

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

M&T Bank Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $1.35 dividend. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. M&T Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.91%.

M&T Bank announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 22nd that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 12.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

M&T Bank 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: Business Banking, Commercial Banking, Commercial Real Estate, Discretionary Portfolio, Residential Mortgage Banking, and Retail Banking.