Robert Patent Sells 5,000 Shares of Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) Stock

Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB) Director Robert Patent sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.75, for a total value of $363,750.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 103,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,543,083.75. This represents a 4.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Metropolitan Bank Stock Up 5.9%

NYSE:MCB opened at $76.9990 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $71.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.86. Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. has a 52-week low of $47.08 and a 52-week high of $80.20. 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 company has a market cap of $802.33 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.48 and a beta of 1.13.

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.14. Metropolitan Bank had a return on equity of 10.69% and a net margin of 13.68%.The firm had revenue of $76.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.50 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. will post 7.31 EPS for the current year.

Metropolitan Bank Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 28th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 28th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Metropolitan Bank’s dividend payout ratio is 9.72%.

Metropolitan Bank declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, July 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Metropolitan Bank from $81.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Hovde Group increased their price target on Metropolitan Bank from $75.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $82.67.

Institutional Trading of Metropolitan Bank

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCB. Royce & Associates LP raised its stake in Metropolitan Bank by 749.4% during the 1st quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 316,191 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,704,000 after buying an additional 278,966 shares during the period. Philadelphia Financial Management of San Francisco LLC acquired a new stake in Metropolitan Bank during the 1st quarter worth $12,602,000. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in Metropolitan Bank during the 4th quarter worth $12,109,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Metropolitan Bank during the 1st quarter worth $10,206,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake 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 buying an additional 76,745 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.83% of the company’s stock.

Metropolitan Bank Company Profile

Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Metropolitan Commercial Bank that provides a range of business, commercial, and retail banking products and services to small businesses, middle-market enterprises, public entities, and individuals in the New York metropolitan area.