Rhumbline Advisers Trims Stake in Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. $MCB

Key Points

• Rhumbline Advisers reduced its position in Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. by 19.1%, owning 17,457 shares valued at approximately $977,000.
• Metropolitan Bank received mixed ratings from analysts, with Hovde Group and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgrading their price targets, while Zacks Research downgraded to a "hold" rating.
• The bank announced a $50 million share buyback program, indicating that the board believes its shares are undervalued.

Rhumbline Advisers trimmed its position in shares of Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB - Free Report) by 19.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,457 shares of the company's stock after selling 4,118 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.16% of Metropolitan Bank worth $977,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCB. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Metropolitan Bank by 53.4% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 8,889 shares of the company's stock worth $519,000 after purchasing an additional 3,093 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in Metropolitan Bank by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,020 shares of the company's stock worth $352,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Man Group plc raised its stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 44.4% in the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 7,236 shares of the company's stock valued at $423,000 after acquiring an additional 2,226 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in Metropolitan Bank in the fourth quarter valued at $12,109,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Metropolitan Bank by 21,710.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 33,370 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,868,000 after purchasing an additional 33,217 shares during the period. 79.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Metropolitan Bank news, Director Robert C. Patent sold 5,000 shares of Metropolitan Bank stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.02, for a total value of $395,100.00. Following the sale, the director owned 98,685 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,798,088.70. The trade was a 4.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nick Rosenberg sold 1,250 shares of Metropolitan Bank stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.47, for a total value of $99,337.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 28,339 shares in the company, valued at $2,252,100.33. This represents a 4.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,696 shares of company stock worth $2,430,346 in the last three months. Company insiders own 6.09% of the company's stock.

Metropolitan Bank Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCB traded up $0.57 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $78.07. 13,663 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 98,275. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. has a 1 year low of $47.08 and a 1 year high of $81.33. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.52. The stock has a market cap of $813.44 million, a P/E ratio of 12.65 and a beta of 1.16.

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.14. Metropolitan Bank had a return on equity of 10.69% and a net margin of 13.68%.The firm had revenue of $76.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.50 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. will post 7.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Metropolitan Bank announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, July 17th that permits the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Metropolitan Bank Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 28th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 28th. Metropolitan Bank's payout ratio is currently 9.72%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research lowered Metropolitan Bank from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Metropolitan Bank from $81.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Hovde Group lifted their target price on Metropolitan Bank from $75.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $82.67.

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.