Empowered Funds LLC Takes Position in Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. $MCB

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC acquired 51,151 shares of Metropolitan Bank, valued at approximately $5.1 million, joining several institutional investors that initiated positions during the second quarter. Institutional investors now own 79.83% of MCB.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with an average “Buy” rating and a $105 target price, although UBS and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods recently reduced their price targets and Wall Street Zen downgraded the stock to “Hold.”
• Metropolitan Bank reported quarterly EPS of $1.54, below the $2.30 consensus estimate, while revenue was nearly in line with expectations. The company increased its quarterly dividend to $0.35, equivalent to a 1.5% annualized yield.

Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 51,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,052,000. Empowered Funds LLC owned 0.41% of Metropolitan Bank as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Metropolitan Bank in the second quarter worth $6,372,000. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Metropolitan Bank during the second quarter valued at about $20,776,000. Man Group plc bought a new position in shares of Metropolitan Bank during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,442,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in shares of Metropolitan Bank during the 2nd quarter worth about $522,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank in the 2nd quarter valued at about $395,000. 79.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Metropolitan Bank

In other news, Director Robert C. Patent sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $7,031,113.65. The trade was a 11.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Daniel F. Dougherty purchased 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $89.98 per share, with a total value of $89,980.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 33,197 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,987,066.06. The trade was a 3.11% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,897 shares of company stock worth $2,528,512. Insiders own 5.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on MCB. Wall Street Zen lowered Metropolitan Bank from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Metropolitan Bank from $120.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Metropolitan Bank in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Metropolitan Bank from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Metropolitan Bank has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $105.00.

Metropolitan Bank Price Performance

MCB opened at $90.94 on Tuesday. Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. has a 1 year low of $64.66 and a 1 year high of $102.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.51 and a beta of 0.99. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $94.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $90.43.

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $1.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.30 by ($0.76). Metropolitan Bank had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 10.22%. 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st were given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Metropolitan Bank's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Metropolitan Bank's payout ratio is currently 17.72%.

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.

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