Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold”

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on MCB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Metropolitan Bank from $120.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings upgraded Metropolitan Bank from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on Metropolitan Bank in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $97.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Metropolitan Bank currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $103.50.

Metropolitan Bank Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of MCB stock opened at $91.31 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $94.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $89.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. Metropolitan Bank has a 1 year low of $64.66 and a 1 year high of $102.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.56 and a beta of 1.00.

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $1.54 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by ($0.76). The business had revenue of $93.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.39 million. Metropolitan Bank had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 14.31%.

Metropolitan Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. This is a positive change from Metropolitan Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. Metropolitan Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Metropolitan Bank

In other Metropolitan Bank news, Director Robert C. Patent sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.41, for a total value of $964,100.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 86,185 shares in the company, valued at $8,309,095.85. The trade was a 10.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nick Rosenberg sold 1,807 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.42, for a total transaction of $181,458.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 22,202 shares in the company, valued at $2,229,524.84. The trade was a 7.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 19,897 shares of company stock worth $1,874,352 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Metropolitan Bank by 66.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 592,799 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,266,000 after acquiring an additional 236,946 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its position in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 114.8% in the fourth quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 559,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,722,000 after purchasing an additional 299,061 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 7.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 459,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,295,000 after purchasing an additional 32,662 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 346,858 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,486,000 after purchasing an additional 20,750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 242,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,523,000 after purchasing an additional 5,236 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.