Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases 595 Shares of M&T Bank Co. (NYSE:MTB)

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of M&T Bank Co. (NYSE:MTB) by 46.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,889 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 595 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in M&T Bank were worth $355,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Plato Investment Management Ltd increased its position in shares of M&T Bank by 2,300.0% during the third quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of M&T Bank during the third quarter valued at $32,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of M&T Bank by 54.4% during the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its holdings in M&T Bank by 329.2% in the 3rd quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 206 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in M&T Bank in the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. 84.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MTB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of M&T Bank from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Compass Point raised their price target on M&T Bank from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on M&T Bank from $210.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $236.00 target price (up from $233.00) on shares of M&T Bank in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of M&T Bank from $205.00 to $243.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $221.68.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Rene F. Jones sold 23,071 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.88, for a total transaction of $4,473,005.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 77,226 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John P. Barnes sold 20,000 shares of M&T Bank stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.45, for a total value of $4,349,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 35,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,715,126. The trade was a 36.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 64,994 shares of company stock worth $13,331,878 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

M&T Bank Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of MTB opened at $198.81 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $201.10 and its 200 day moving average is $184.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, 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 $128.31 and a 12-month high of $225.70. The company has a market capitalization of $32.99 billion, a PE ratio of 13.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.79.

M&T Bank (NYSE:MTB) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 19.24% and a return on equity of 10.12%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.74 EPS. Research analysts expect that M&T Bank Co. will post 16.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

M&T Bank Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. M&T Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.91%.

M&T Bank declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 22nd that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 12.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.