Arizona State Retirement System Purchases 702 Shares of M&T Bank Co. (NYSE:MTB)

Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in M&T Bank Co. (NYSE:MTB) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 48,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 702 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in M&T Bank were worth $9,120,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of M&T Bank by 13.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,349,398 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,199,675,000 after acquiring an additional 1,508,846 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in M&T Bank by 6.4% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in M&T Bank by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,289,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $994,522,000 after buying an additional 252,583 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of M&T Bank by 1.6% in 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 buying an additional 66,337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Senvest Management LLC increased its stake in shares of M&T Bank by 12.3% in the third quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 882,841 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $157,252,000 after buying an additional 96,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target 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. Citigroup cut shares of M&T Bank from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $220.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of M&T Bank from $228.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Compass Point increased their price target on M&T Bank from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, M&T Bank currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $221.68.

M&T Bank Stock Performance

NYSE MTB opened at $177.04 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $29.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.10, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $191.47. 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.

M&T Bank (NYSE:MTB) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 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 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that M&T Bank Co. will post 16.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

M&T Bank Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. M&T Bank’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.91%.

M&T Bank announced that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.