Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd Acquires New Stake in M&T Bank Co. (NYSE:MTB)

Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in M&T Bank Co. (NYSE:MTB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 7,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,370,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Townsquare Capital LLC bought a new stake in M&T Bank in the 3rd quarter worth $230,000. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in shares of M&T Bank by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 7,761 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,382,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new position in shares of M&T Bank during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,074,000. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in M&T Bank by 2.1% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 52,507 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,353,000 after buying an additional 1,075 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its stake in M&T Bank by 41.0% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 9,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,724,000 after purchasing an additional 2,815 shares in the last quarter. 84.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other M&T Bank news, EVP Christopher E. Kay sold 1,738 shares of M&T Bank stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,852,827.34. The trade was a 13.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MTB. Compass Point upped 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 note on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays boosted their price objective on M&T Bank from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on M&T Bank from $212.50 to $186.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded M&T Bank from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $215.97.

M&T Bank Stock Down 3.8 %

MTB stock opened at $157.13 on Friday. M&T Bank Co. has a fifty-two week low of $133.03 and a fifty-two week high of $225.70. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $186.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $192.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.74, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.98.

M&T Bank (NYSE:MTB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the business earned $2.74 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that M&T Bank Co. will post 16.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

M&T Bank announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 22nd that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 12.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

M&T Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $1.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.44%. M&T Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.91%.

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: Commercial Bank, Retail Bank, Institutional Services and Wealth Management, and All Other.