Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. $MCB

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC bought a new position in Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 29,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,198,000. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.28% of Metropolitan Bank as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MCB. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Metropolitan Bank in the third quarter worth $355,000. Sippican Capital Advisors boosted its stake in Metropolitan Bank by 3.5% during the third quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors now owns 27,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,026,000 after acquiring an additional 905 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new position in shares of Metropolitan Bank during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 226.8% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 4,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $307,000. 79.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Metropolitan Bank

In other Metropolitan Bank news, EVP Nick Rosenberg sold 1,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total value of $112,762.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert C. Patent sold 4,445 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.28, for a total transaction of $410,184.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 84,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,773,667.20. The trade was a 5.01% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 16,320 shares of company stock valued at $1,523,103. Corporate insiders own 6.09% of the company’s stock.

Metropolitan Bank Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCB opened at $92.85 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $80.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.07. Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. has a 52-week low of $47.08 and a 52-week high of $96.75. The company has a market cap of $956.36 million, a PE ratio of 13.96 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 20th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share 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 9.73%. The company had revenue of $88.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $83.15 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. will post 7.31 EPS for the current year.

Metropolitan Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 27th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This is a positive change from Metropolitan Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 27th. Metropolitan Bank’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MCB shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Metropolitan Bank in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Metropolitan Bank from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Metropolitan Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Metropolitan Bank currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.00.

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.