Trexquant Investment LP Makes New Investment in Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. $MCB

Key Points

• Trexquant Investment LP has acquired 31,638 shares of Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp., valued at approximately $1.77 million, making up 0.30% of the company's stock.
• Institutional investors, including Royce & Associates LP and Wellington Management Group LLP, have significantly increased their stakes in Metropolitan Bank, with Royce & Associates raising its position by 749.4% in the first quarter.
• Metropolitan Bank recently announced a stock repurchase program of $50 million and reported strong quarterly earnings, showing an EPS of $1.76, surpassing analyst estimates.

Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 31,638 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,771,000. Trexquant Investment LP owned about 0.30% of Metropolitan Bank as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 289.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 596 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 443 shares during the last quarter. Avalon Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank during the 1st quarter valued at about $84,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,020 shares of the company's stock valued at $352,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Metropolitan Bank during the 1st quarter valued at about $352,000. Finally, Man Group plc boosted its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 44.4% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.83% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Metropolitan Bank

In other news, Director Harvey Gutman sold 1,400 shares of Metropolitan Bank stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.41, for a total transaction of $109,774.00. Following the sale, the director owned 18,743 shares in the company, valued at $1,469,638.63. This trade represents a 6.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Dale C. Fredston sold 3,000 shares of Metropolitan Bank stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.65, for a total transaction of $235,950.00. Following the sale, the director owned 14,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,114,313.20. The trade was a 17.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,446 shares of company stock worth $2,787,379 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 6.09% of the company's stock.

Metropolitan Bank Stock Performance

NYSE MCB traded down $0.62 on Wednesday, reaching $77.95. 57,624 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 54,301. Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. has a one year low of $47.08 and a one year high of $81.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $812.23 million, a PE ratio of 12.63 and a beta of 1.16. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $74.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.33. 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 (NYSE:MCB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.14. Metropolitan Bank had a net margin of 13.68% and a return on equity of 10.69%. The company had revenue of $76.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $72.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.50 EPS. Analysts expect that Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. will post 7.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Metropolitan Bank announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, July 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Metropolitan Bank Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 28th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 28th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Metropolitan Bank's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MCB. Hovde Group raised their price objective on shares of Metropolitan Bank from $75.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Metropolitan Bank from $81.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $82.67.

Metropolitan Bank Company Profile

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.