Here's Why Giverny Capital Asset Management Sold Its Stake in M&T Bank Corporation (MTB)

Giverny Capital Asset Management, LLC, an investment management company, recently published its second-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. During the first half of the year, the market was volatile. The S&P 500 ended June 30 up 6.20%. The portfolio lagged behind the market initially but gained 5.41% over the six months. In the quarter ended June, the portfolio returned 9.11% compared to the S&P 500’s 10.94% return. Additionally, you can review the fund’s top 5 holdings to see its best picks for 2025.

In its second-quarter 2025 investor letter, Giverny Capital Asset Management highlighted stocks such as M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE:MTB). M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE:MTB) is a bank holding company for Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company and Wilmington Trust, National Association. The one-month return of M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE:MTB) was -7.85%, and its shares gained 15.95% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On August 5, 2025, M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE:MTB) stock closed at $188.04 per share, with a market capitalization of $29.385 billion.

Giverny Capital Asset Management stated the following regarding M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE:MTB) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:

"We had a handful of transactions during the quarter. We exited M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE:MTB), a Buffalo-based regional bank with a strong balance sheet and a conservative management team, trading at a modest price. This is not the kind of business I like to sell, but the longer I owned M&T, the more concerned I grew about its growth prospects.

M&T competes in mostly slower growing US markets, including Northeastern cities like Buffalo, Rochester, Hartford and Baltimore. With bank deposit market share as high as 60% in Buffalo, it is unlikely that another bank would try to open branches to compete with M&T. In turn, this means M&T has deep relationships with many of the best clients in town…” (Click here to read the full text)

M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE:MTB) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 52 hedge fund portfolios held M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE:MTB) at the end of the first quarter, which was 46 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE:MTB) as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

In another article, we covered M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE:MTB) and shared the list of best financial stocks on Wall Street’s radar. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.