M&T Bank (NYSE:MTB) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

M&T Bank (NYSE:MTB) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday.

MTB has been the subject of several other reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of 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. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of M&T Bank from $190.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of M&T Bank from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Wolfe Research raised shares of M&T Bank from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded M&T Bank from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $220.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $221.68.

M&T Bank Price Performance

Shares of MTB traded down $1.18 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $199.86. 1,353,478 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,410,469. The stock has a market cap of $33.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.66, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $200.51 and a 200-day moving average of $185.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.93. M&T Bank has a 52 week low of $128.31 and a 52 week 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 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $2.74 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that M&T Bank will post 16.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Activity

In other M&T Bank news, EVP Tracy S. Woodrow sold 2,121 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.75, for a total value of $468,210.75. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 5,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,134,875.75. This represents a 29.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Robert E. Sadler, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total transaction of $396,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 29,796 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,899,608. This represents a 6.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 40,487 shares of company stock valued at $8,578,809. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On M&T Bank

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of M&T Bank by 13.9% in 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in M&T Bank by 6.4% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of M&T Bank by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,037,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $897,216,000 after buying an additional 190,837 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of M&T Bank by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,329,814 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $768,824,000 after buying an additional 66,337 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Senvest Management LLC increased its stake in shares of M&T Bank by 12.3% during the third quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 882,841 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $157,252,000 after buying an additional 96,500 shares during the period. 84.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.