10 Best Bank Stocks To Buy Right Now

10 Best Bank Stocks To Buy Right Now: M&T Bank Corporation (MTB)

M&T Bank Corporation operates as the holding company for M&T Bank and M&T Bank, National Association that provide commercial and retail banking services to individuals, corporations and other businesses, and institutions. It offers business loans and leases; business credit cards; deposit products, such as demand, savings, and time accounts; and financial services, including cash management, payroll and direct deposit, merchant credit card, and letters of credit. The company also provides residential real estate loans; multifamily commercial real estate loans; commercial real estate loans; one-to-four family residential mortgage loans; investment and trading securities; short-term and long-term borrowed funds; brokered certificates of deposit and interest rate swap agreements related thereto; and branch deposits. In addition, it offers foreign exchange, as well as asset management services. Further, the company provides consumer loans, and commercial loans and leases; cred it life, and accident and health reinsurance; and securities brokerage, investment advisory, and insurance agency services. As of December 31, 2009, it had 738 banking offices in New York State, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia; a commercial banking office in Ontario, Canada; and an office in George Town, Cayman Islands. The company was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Buffalo, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jonas Elmerraji]

  The most-hated name on our list today is M&T Bank (MTB), the $16 billion regional banking stock that tips the scales as one of the 20 largest banks in the country (and is one of Warren Buffett's favorite stocks). With a short interest ratio of 27.22, it would take more than five weeks of buying pressure for short sellers to exit their b! ets at current volume levels. That means that just about any catalyst could trigger a short squeeze right now.

  M&T Bank was one of the well-run regional names that actually fared well in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. By actually sticking to retail and commercial banking and maintaining better underwriting standards, MTB ended up with a loan book that was high enough quality to make it through the lean years. Like other banking names, MTB sought to grow its business by acquiring smaller banking names -- and that's one of the big black clouds that investors are fixating on right now. Shares are seeing high short interest thanks to a regulatory edits to improve risk management and a pending acquisition of Hudson City Bancorp (HCBK) that's been a debacle.

  All of that negative sentiment has been piling up for the last two years (meanwhile, net margins are consistently above 25% and shares have actually managed to rally more than 62% over that stretch). The sheet amount of event risk surrounding earnings and the Hudson City merger make the prospect of being short here pretty scary. As soon as shorts start covering, expect a chain reaction.

  Read More: 12 Stocks Warren Buffett Loves in 2014

• [By John Maxfield]

  They are Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC  ) , U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB  ) , and M&T Bank (NYSE: MTB  ) . As you can see in the preceding table, all three of these banks perform at or near the top of their peer group in at least two out of the three variables.

• [By , DividendChannel.com]

  Looking at the universe of stocks we cover at Dividend Channel, on May 28, First Financial Bancorp (FFBC), Goldman Sachs (GS) and M & T Bank Corp. (MTB) will all trade ex-dividend for their respective upcoming dividends. First Financial Bancorp will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.15 on July 1, Goldman Sachs will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.55 on June 27 and M & T Bank will pay its quarterly divid! end of $0! .70 on June 30.

• [By Mike Deane]

  M&T Bank (MTB) announced its fourth quarter and full year earnings before the bell on Friday, with quarterly GAAP earnings falling from last year’s Q4 while full year earnings rose 11%.

  MTB Earnings in Brief

  M&T Bank reported quarterly net income of $245.72 million, which was down from last year’s Q4 net income of $296.19 million. The company’s diluted EPS came in at $1.79 for the quarter, down from the $2.23 per diluted common share reported in last year’s Q4 results. MTB missed analysts’ estimates of $1.92 EPS. For the full year, MTB reported EPS of $8.38, marking an 11% increase from last year’s EPS of $7.54

  CFO Commentary

  Rene F. Jones, CFO and executive VP, had the following comments about the company’s earnings: “While expenses were elevated by investments in our infrastructure during 2013, M&T achieved a net operating return on average tangible common shareholders’ equity of 18.17% for the full year.  Our core capital position strengthened, as the Tier 1 common ratio grew to 9.25% at the 2013 year-end, up 17 basis points from September 30 and 168 basis points higher than at December 31, 2012.  We are also pleased with the continued improvement in credit quality.  M&T’s liquidity and risk profile was enhanced during the year through several actions, including replacing less liquid investment securities with Ginnie Mae securities and the securitization of loans held in the loan portfolio.  During the final two quarters of 2013 we invested heavily in several key areas, including risk management, capital planning and stress testing, regulatory compliance, and other operational and technology initiatives.  Those investments will better position M&T for the future.”

  No Dividend Change

  MTB did not announce a change to its quarterly dividend, and has not raised its dividend since 2007. It should be noted that MTB did no! t cut its! dividend

source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/10-best-bank-stocks-to-buy-right-now-4.html