JPMorgan Chase & Co. Boosts Position in Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. $MCB

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB) by 53.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 178,363 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 62,327 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Metropolitan Bank were worth $13,345,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Metropolitan Bank during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,198,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Metropolitan Bank by 9.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 298,469 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,893,000 after acquiring an additional 25,864 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in shares of Metropolitan Bank during the 3rd quarter worth $1,597,000. Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Metropolitan Bank during the 3rd quarter worth $57,229,000. Finally, Creative Planning grew its position in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 128.1% during the 2nd 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 period. 79.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Metropolitan Bank Stock Performance

MCB opened at $80.53 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.51. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.11 and a beta of 1.13. Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. has a 1-year low of $47.08 and a 1-year high of $97.84.

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

Metropolitan Bank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 27th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This is a boost from Metropolitan Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 27th. Metropolitan Bank’s payout ratio is 12.03%.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 owned 25,839 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,330,936.19. This trade represents a 4.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert C. Patent sold 10,000 shares of Metropolitan Bank stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.99, for a total value of $949,900.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 88,685 shares in the company, valued at $8,424,188.15. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 15,695 shares of company stock worth $1,472,847 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 6.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on MCB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Metropolitan Bank from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Metropolitan Bank from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Zacks Research upgraded Metropolitan Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Metropolitan Bank in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.00.

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.