Picton Mahoney Asset Management Makes New Investment in Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. $MCB

Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 11,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $862,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCB. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 11.7% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $416,000 after buying an additional 778 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 3.9% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $350,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 5.3% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 42,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,367,000 after buying an additional 2,126 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 107.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 148,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,378,000 after acquiring an additional 76,745 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Metropolitan Bank during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,664,000. 79.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Metropolitan Bank

In related news, Director Robert C. Patent sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 88,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,424,188.15. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nick Rosenberg sold 1,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total value of $112,762.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 25,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,330,936.19. This trade represents a 4.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,320 shares of company stock valued at $1,523,103. Insiders own 6.09% of the company’s stock.

Metropolitan Bank Stock Down 2.7%

NYSE:MCB opened at $79.47 on Friday. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $86.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.25. Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. has a 1-year low of $47.08 and a 1-year high of $97.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $804.24 million, a P/E ratio of 11.95 and a beta of 1.13.

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share (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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. will post 7.31 EPS for the current year.

Metropolitan Bank Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Metropolitan Bank from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Metropolitan Bank from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Metropolitan Bank in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Metropolitan Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target 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.