Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) Director Robert Patent Sells 4,445 Shares of Stock

Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB) Director Robert Patent sold 4,445 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.28, for a total value of $410,184.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 84,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,773,667.20. This trade represents a 5.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Metropolitan Bank Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of MCB stock opened at $88.87 on Tuesday. Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. has a 52-week low of $47.08 and a 52-week high of $96.75. The stock has a market cap of $915.31 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.36 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $78.75 and a 200-day moving average of $75.63.

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.70. Metropolitan Bank had a net margin of 13.49% and a return on equity of 9.73%. The business had revenue of $88.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $83.15 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. will post 7.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Metropolitan Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 27th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 27th. This is a boost from Metropolitan Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Metropolitan Bank’s payout ratio is currently 9.02%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Metropolitan Bank

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 9.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 298,469 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,893,000 after buying an additional 25,864 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Metropolitan Bank by 107.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 148,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,378,000 after acquiring an additional 76,745 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its position in Metropolitan Bank by 128.1% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 14,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,031,000 after acquiring an additional 8,271 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 11.4% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 82,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,758,000 after acquiring an additional 8,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Metropolitan Bank during the second quarter worth approximately $1,664,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.83% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Metropolitan Bank in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Metropolitan Bank from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Metropolitan Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $92.00.

About Metropolitan Bank

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB), through its principal subsidiary Metropolitan Commercial Bank, operates as a New York–based regional financial institution providing a range of commercial and consumer banking services. The company offers deposit products including checking, savings and money market accounts, as well as business and personal certificates of deposit. On the lending side, Metropolitan Bank extends commercial real estate financing, equipment loans, working capital lines of credit and consumer installment loans tailored to the needs of small- and medium-sized enterprises and individual customers.

In addition to traditional deposit and lending services, Metropolitan Bank provides specialized treasury and cash-management solutions, foreign exchange services and letters of credit for both domestic businesses and multinational clients.