Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB) shares gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $93.85, but opened at $87.00. Metropolitan Bank shares last traded at $87.07, with a volume of 291,297 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on MCB. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Metropolitan Bank in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded Metropolitan Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Metropolitan Bank from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $92.00.

Metropolitan Bank Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $86.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $862.01 million, a PE ratio of 12.84 and a beta of 1.15.

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 20th. The company reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.70. Metropolitan Bank had a net margin of 13.49% and a return on equity of 9.69%. The company had revenue of $88.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $83.15 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. will post 7.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Metropolitan Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 27th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This is an increase from Metropolitan Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 27th. Metropolitan Bank’s payout ratio is 12.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Metropolitan Bank

In other Metropolitan Bank news, EVP Nick Rosenberg sold 1,250 shares of the company’s 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 $2,330,936.19. This represents a 4.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert C. Patent sold 4,445 shares of Metropolitan Bank stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.28, for a total value of $410,184.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 84,240 shares in the company, valued at $7,773,667.20. This represents a 5.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 16,320 shares of company stock valued at $1,523,103 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 6.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Metropolitan Bank during the fourth quarter worth approximately $208,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 66.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 592,799 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,266,000 after acquiring an additional 236,946 shares in the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL boosted its position in Metropolitan Bank by 111.6% during the 4th quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 61,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,718,000 after purchasing an additional 32,587 shares during the period. Polymer Capital Management US LLC acquired a new stake in Metropolitan Bank in the 4th quarter valued at $283,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in Metropolitan Bank by 26.1% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 59,842 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,570,000 after purchasing an additional 12,387 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.83% of the company’s stock.

Metropolitan Bank Company 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.