Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) Director Robert Patent Sells 10,000 Shares of Stock

Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB) Director Robert Patent sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.99, for a total transaction of $949,900.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 88,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,424,188.15. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Metropolitan Bank Price Performance

MCB stock opened at $88.87 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company’s 50-day moving average is $78.75 and its 200-day moving average is $75.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $915.31 million, a PE ratio of 13.36 and a beta of 1.13. Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. has a 1 year low of $47.08 and a 1 year high of $96.75.

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

Metropolitan Bank Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Metropolitan Bank from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Metropolitan Bank in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Zacks Research raised Metropolitan Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Metropolitan Bank currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $92.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MCB. Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P. bought a new stake in Metropolitan Bank in the 3rd quarter worth about $57,229,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 6.3% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 404,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,232,000 after acquiring an additional 24,115 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 8.9% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 324,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,316,000 after acquiring an additional 26,522 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Metropolitan Bank by 53.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 178,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,345,000 after acquiring an additional 62,327 shares during the period. Finally, Ranger Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in Metropolitan Bank by 0.6% in the third quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. now owns 151,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,333,000 after purchasing an additional 965 shares during the last quarter. 79.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.