Sippican Capital Advisors Raises Position in Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. $MCB

Sippican Capital Advisors raised its holdings in Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB) by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,178 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,057 shares during the period. Metropolitan Bank makes up approximately 1.3% of Sippican Capital Advisors’ portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Sippican Capital Advisors owned 0.25% of Metropolitan Bank worth $1,832,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 278,966 shares during the last quarter. Philadelphia Financial Management of San Francisco LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank during the 1st quarter worth $12,602,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank during the 1st quarter worth $10,206,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 145.1% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 71,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,987,000 after purchasing an additional 42,156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 21,710.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 33,370 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,868,000 after purchasing an additional 33,217 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.83% of the company’s stock.

Metropolitan Bank Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCB opened at $74.56 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $75.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.44. Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. has a 12 month low of $47.08 and a 12 month high of $81.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $776.92 million, a P/E ratio of 12.08 and a beta of 1.11.

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.14. Metropolitan Bank had a net margin of 13.68% and a return on equity of 10.69%. The firm had revenue of $76.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.50 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.50 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. will post 7.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Metropolitan Bank Dividend Announcement

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

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MCB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Metropolitan Bank from $81.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Metropolitan Bank in a research report on Wednesday. Zacks Research cut shares of Metropolitan Bank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Hovde Group lifted their price objective on shares of Metropolitan Bank from $75.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Metropolitan Bank news, EVP Scott Lublin sold 5,000 shares of Metropolitan Bank stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.64, for a total value of $393,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,631,516.56. The trade was a 9.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Harvey Gutman sold 1,400 shares of Metropolitan Bank stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.41, for a total transaction of $109,774.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,743 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,469,638.63. This represents a 6.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,446 shares of company stock valued at $2,336,534 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 6.09% 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.