Wall Street Zen Upgrades Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) to “Buy”

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

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

Metropolitan Bank Trading Down 2.8%

Metropolitan Bank stock opened at $83.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $848.98 million, a PE ratio of 12.62 and a beta of 1.15. Metropolitan Bank has a 12 month low of $47.08 and a 12 month high of $97.84. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) last posted 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 9.69%. The firm had revenue of $88.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $83.15 million. Analysts anticipate that Metropolitan Bank will post 7.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Metropolitan Bank news, EVP Nick Rosenberg sold 1,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total transaction of $112,762.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 25,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,330,936.19. This represents a 4.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert C. Patent sold 4,445 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.28, for a total value of $410,184.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 84,240 shares in the company, valued at $7,773,667.20. The trade was a 5.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 16,320 shares of company stock worth $1,523,103. 6.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Metropolitan Bank

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in Metropolitan Bank by 70.4% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 346 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 69,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,226,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $350,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 7.7% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $396,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.83% of the company’s stock.

Metropolitan Bank Company Profile

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.