Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Purchases 1,507 Shares of M&T Bank Co. (NYSE:MTB)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in M&T Bank Co. (NYSE:MTB) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 21,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,507 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in M&T Bank were worth $4,127,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position 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 worth $1,562,725,000 after purchasing an additional 527,854 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position 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 worth $994,522,000 after purchasing an additional 252,583 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in M&T Bank by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,329,814 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $768,824,000 after purchasing an additional 66,337 shares during the period. Finally, Senvest Management LLC lifted its holdings in M&T Bank by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 882,841 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $157,252,000 after purchasing an additional 96,500 shares in the last quarter. 84.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MTB. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of M&T Bank from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays boosted their target price on M&T Bank from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $223.50 price target (up previously from $215.00) on shares of M&T Bank in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on M&T Bank from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of M&T Bank from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $221.68.

M&T Bank Price Performance

MTB stock opened at $172.18 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $28.29 billion, a PE ratio of 11.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.74. M&T Bank Co. has a 12 month low of $133.03 and a 12 month high of $225.70. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $193.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $191.92. 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 (NYSE:MTB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $2.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that M&T Bank Co. will post 16.57 earnings per share for the current year.

M&T Bank Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $1.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. M&T Bank’s payout ratio is 36.91%.

M&T Bank declared that its board has approved a share buyback program 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 purchase up to 12.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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