Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. $MCB Shares Sold by Royce & Associates LP

Royce & Associates LP cut its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB) by 84.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,235 shares of the company’s stock after selling 142,654 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned about 0.25% of Metropolitan Bank worth $2,003,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MCB. Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P. bought a new position in shares of Metropolitan Bank during the third quarter worth about $57,229,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 53.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 178,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,345,000 after purchasing an additional 62,327 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its position in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 363.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 64,832 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,951,000 after purchasing an additional 50,844 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 418.5% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 47,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,551,000 after purchasing an additional 38,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 854.7% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 41,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,922,000 after purchasing an additional 37,374 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Metropolitan Bank Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCB opened at $90.22 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $87.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.87. Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. has a 52 week low of $63.06 and a 52 week high of $97.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.11 and a beta of 1.02. 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 (NYSE:MCB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $2.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.73. Metropolitan Bank had a net margin of 15.89% and a return on equity of 10.95%. The company had revenue of $88.49 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.33 million.

Metropolitan Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 1st were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 1st. This is an increase from Metropolitan Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Metropolitan Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.32%.

Metropolitan Bank 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.