Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Cuts Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) Price Target to $110.00

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) had its target price lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $120.00 to $110.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on MCB. 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. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Metropolitan Bank from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 4th. Finally, UBS Group initiated 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 for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $103.50.

Metropolitan Bank Trading Up 0.6%

MCB opened at $91.31 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. Metropolitan Bank has a 52 week low of $64.66 and a 52 week high of $102.04. The stock has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of 11.56 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50 day moving average of $94.50 and a 200-day moving average of $89.43.

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.30 by ($0.76). The firm had revenue of $93.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Metropolitan Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. Metropolitan Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Metropolitan Bank

In other Metropolitan Bank news, EVP Nick Rosenberg sold 1,807 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.42, for a total value of $181,458.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,229,524.84. The trade was a 7.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert C. Patent sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.41, for a total value of $964,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 86,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,309,095.85. This represents a 10.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,897 shares of company stock worth $1,874,352. 5.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Metropolitan Bank

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new position in Metropolitan Bank in the third quarter worth about $2,185,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings 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 valued at $13,345,000 after buying an additional 62,327 shares during the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,632,000. UBS Group AG grew its holdings 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 valued at $4,951,000 after buying an additional 50,844 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FourThought Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $331,000. 79.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.