Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB) have received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the five research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $93.6667.

A number of equities analysts have commented on MCB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Metropolitan Bank from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Metropolitan Bank from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 4th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Metropolitan Bank in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $97.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Metropolitan Bank from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Metropolitan Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st.

Metropolitan Bank Stock Performance

MCB traded down $0.56 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $88.65. The company had a trading volume of 12,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 175,368. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a PE ratio of 13.33 and a beta of 1.13. Metropolitan Bank has a 12-month low of $53.32 and a 12-month high of $97.84. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $86.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.30.

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.70. The company had revenue of $88.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $83.15 million. Metropolitan Bank had a net margin of 13.49% and a return on equity of 9.69%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Metropolitan Bank will post 7.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Metropolitan Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 27th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This is a boost from Metropolitan Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 27th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Metropolitan Bank’s payout ratio is 12.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Nick Rosenberg sold 1,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 21st. The shares were 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 directly owned 25,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert C. Patent sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.99, for a total transaction of $949,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 88,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,424,188.15. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 15,695 shares of company stock valued at $1,472,847. Insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Metropolitan Bank

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P. bought a new stake in Metropolitan Bank during the 3rd quarter valued at about $57,229,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 66.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 592,799 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,266,000 after acquiring an additional 236,946 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 114.8% during the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 559,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,722,000 after acquiring an additional 299,061 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 427,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,616,000 after acquiring an additional 23,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 346,858 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,486,000 after acquiring an additional 20,750 shares during the last quarter. 79.83% of the stock is currently 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.