Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

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

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

Metropolitan Bank Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE:MCB opened at $78.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Metropolitan Bank has a fifty-two week low of $47.08 and a fifty-two week high of $97.84. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $87.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.41. The stock has a market cap of $798.82 million, a PE ratio of 11.87 and a beta of 1.13.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.70. The company had revenue of $88.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $83.15 million. Metropolitan Bank had a return on equity of 9.69% and a net margin of 13.49%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Metropolitan Bank will post 7.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Metropolitan Bank

In other Metropolitan Bank news, Director Robert C. Patent sold 4,445 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.28, for a total transaction of $410,184.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 84,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,773,667.20. This represents a 5.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nick Rosenberg sold 1,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total value of $112,762.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 25,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,330,936.19. This represents a 4.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 15,695 shares of company stock valued at $1,472,847. 6.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MCB. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Metropolitan Bank by 11.7% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $416,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Metropolitan Bank by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $350,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Metropolitan Bank by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 42,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,367,000 after acquiring an additional 2,126 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 107.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 148,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,378,000 after purchasing an additional 76,745 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 128.1% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 14,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,031,000 after purchasing an additional 8,271 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.83% of the company’s stock.

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.