Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) Director Sells $268,740.00 in Stock

Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB) Director Harvey Gutman sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.58, for a total transaction of $268,740.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,634,207.94. This trade represents a 14.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Metropolitan Bank Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:MCB traded down $1.22 during trading on Monday, reaching $88.30. 134,841 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 165,407. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a PE ratio of 10.87 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.98. Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. has a 12-month low of $63.06 and a 12-month high of $97.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $2.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.73. The business had revenue of $88.49 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.33 million. Metropolitan Bank had a net margin of 15.89% and a return on equity of 10.95%.

Metropolitan Bank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 1st were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 1st. This is a positive change from Metropolitan Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Metropolitan Bank’s dividend payout ratio is 12.32%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Metropolitan Bank

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in Metropolitan Bank by 70.4% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Metropolitan Bank by 0.3% in the third quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 69,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,226,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Metropolitan Bank by 3.9% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $350,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Metropolitan Bank in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 6.3% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 6,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $502,000 after buying an additional 355 shares during the period. 79.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Metropolitan Bank from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 4th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Metropolitan Bank from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Metropolitan Bank from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Metropolitan Bank in a report on Thursday, April 16th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $97.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Metropolitan Bank presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $95.00.

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.