M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE:MTB) has released its second quarter fiscal 2015 financial results today, posting earnings per share of $1.98, beating the market’s’ expectations by $0.02. Wall Street was expecting earnings per share of $1.96 for the second quarter on quarterly revenues of $1.13 billion. The net income was slightly up in the second quarter to $287 million from the net income of $284 million earned in the second quarter of last year. It is important to note that the financial service company was unable to meet the market’s earnings expectations in the first quarter, posting EPS of $1.65 against market estimates of $1.76. While discussing the second quarter financial results, René F. Jones, Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer of M&T Bank, said, “M&T’s results for the second quarter reflect strong activity in our commercial loan portfolios, as we experienced 10% annualized growth in balances and significantly higher loan syndication fees as compared with the first quarter. Charge-offs remained at historically low levels and expenses during the quarter were again well-contained…”
The shares of M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE:MTB) have remained stable throughout the year, with a year-to-date drop of 0.08%. Smart money held a somewhat bearish outlook towards the shares of the finance company during the first quarter , as 20 hedge fund investors held $895.50 million in the firm’s shares compared to holdings of $882.75 million from 24 investors on December 31. While aggregate holdings did increase slightly, it was largely due to the appreciation of shares by just over 1% during the quarter.
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Contrary to the hedge fund sentiment for the stock of M&T Bank Corporation, insiders are bullish and expect growth in the company. Robert Brady, Director at M&T Bank Corp., purchased 8,000 shares of the company on March 2 at a per share price of $121.35.
For a better understanding of the hedge fund activity, let’s go over the latest action encompassing M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE:MTB).
