Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB) Short Interest Update

Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 30th, there was short interest totaling 470,383 shares, a drop of 18.9% from the January 15th total of 579,657 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 257,135 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days. Approximately 4.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Approximately 4.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 257,135 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Metropolitan Bank in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Metropolitan Bank from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Metropolitan Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $92.00.

Metropolitan Bank Stock Performance

NYSE MCB opened at $94.41 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $84.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.83. Metropolitan Bank has a 12-month low of $47.08 and a 12-month high of $97.84. The firm has a market cap of $972.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.20 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.70. The firm had revenue of $88.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $83.15 million. Metropolitan Bank had a net margin of 13.49% and a return on equity of 9.73%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Metropolitan Bank will post 7.31 EPS for the current year.

Metropolitan Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 27th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 27th. This is a positive change from Metropolitan Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Metropolitan Bank’s payout ratio is presently 12.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert C. Patent sold 10,000 shares of Metropolitan Bank stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.99, for a total value of $949,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 88,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,424,188.15. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nick Rosenberg sold 1,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total transaction of $112,762.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 25,839 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,330,936.19. The trade was a 4.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 16,320 shares of company stock valued at $1,523,103 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 6.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Metropolitan Bank

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Metropolitan Bank in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,198,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 298,469 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,893,000 after buying an additional 25,864 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 107.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 148,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,378,000 after acquiring an additional 76,745 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 11.4% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 82,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,758,000 after acquiring an additional 8,390 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning increased its position in Metropolitan Bank by 128.1% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 14,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,031,000 after acquiring an additional 8,271 shares during the last quarter. 79.83% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.