Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB) saw a large drop in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 549,498 shares, a drop of 19.3% from the March 31st total of 680,953 shares. Currently, 4.7% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 191,732 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Metropolitan Bank Stock Up 1.3%

MCB stock traded up $1.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $89.46. 119,809 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 177,565. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $85.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.02 and a beta of 1.02. Metropolitan Bank has a 1 year low of $62.13 and a 1 year high of $97.84.

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $2.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.73. The firm had revenue of $88.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.33 million. Metropolitan Bank had a net margin of 15.89% and a return on equity of 11.76%.

Metropolitan Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 1st. This is a boost from Metropolitan Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Metropolitan Bank’s payout ratio is 9.85%.

Institutional Trading of Metropolitan Bank

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MCB. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank during the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank during the 4th quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 41.5% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Metropolitan Bank from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. 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 objective on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Metropolitan Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. 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, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Metropolitan Bank from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Metropolitan Bank presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.00.

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.