Great Lakes Advisors LLC Buys New Stake in Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. $MCB

Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 7,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $762,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC owned 0.06% of Metropolitan Bank as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Emerald Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Metropolitan Bank during the first quarter worth $25,000. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in Metropolitan Bank by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 346 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Metropolitan Bank during the 3rd quarter worth about $48,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Metropolitan Bank during the 4th quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in 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 period. 79.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Metropolitan Bank Stock Up 0.4%

MCB stock opened at $91.98 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $95.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $90.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.64 and a beta of 0.99. Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $64.66 and a fifty-two week high of $102.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by ($0.76). Metropolitan Bank had a return on equity of 10.22% and a net margin of 14.31%.The firm had revenue of $93.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.39 million.

Metropolitan Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st were issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Metropolitan Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Metropolitan Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Metropolitan Bank in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Metropolitan Bank from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Metropolitan Bank from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Metropolitan Bank from $120.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Metropolitan Bank currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert C. Patent sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.29, for a total value of $922,900.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 76,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,031,113.65. This represents a 11.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nick Rosenberg sold 1,807 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.42, for a total value of $181,458.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 22,202 shares in the company, valued at $2,229,524.84. This trade represents a 7.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 29,897 shares of company stock valued at $2,797,252 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

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.