Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. Decreases Stock Position in Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB)

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. reduced its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB - Free Report) by 22.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 468,885 shares of the company's stock after selling 138,920 shares during the quarter. Metropolitan Bank makes up about 1.6% of Basswood Capital Management L.L.C.'s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. owned about 4.19% of Metropolitan Bank worth $27,383,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its position in Metropolitan Bank by 46.9% in the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 504 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in Metropolitan Bank in the 4th quarter worth about $66,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Metropolitan Bank in the 4th quarter valued at about $91,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Metropolitan Bank during the fourth quarter valued at about $128,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Metropolitan Bank during the fourth quarter worth about $221,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.83% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Metropolitan Bank news, SVP Norman Scott sold 3,293 shares of Metropolitan Bank stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.57, for a total transaction of $199,457.01. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,546 shares of the company's stock, valued at $759,911.22. The trade was a 20.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Dale C. Fredston sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.27, for a total value of $62,270.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,668 shares in the company, valued at $1,100,186.36. This trade represents a 5.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 30,657 shares of company stock worth $1,762,743. Insiders own 6.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Hovde Group upped their price target on shares of Metropolitan Bank from $75.00 to $83.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

Metropolitan Bank Price Performance

MCB stock traded down $0.53 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $63.66. 95,543 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 93,129. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $55.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.37. Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. has a 52-week low of $37.10 and a 52-week high of $69.56. The company has a market capitalization of $704.42 million, a P/E ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.61 by ($0.16). Metropolitan Bank had a net margin of 13.55% and a return on equity of 10.89%. The firm had revenue of $70.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $67.62 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. will post 7.31 earnings per share for the current year.

About Metropolitan Bank

Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Metropolitan Commercial Bank that provides a range of business, commercial, and retail banking products and services to small businesses, middle-market enterprises, public entities, and individuals in the New York metropolitan area.