XTX Topco Ltd Acquires 5,442 Shares of Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB)

Key Points

• XTX Topco Ltd increased its stake in Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. by 62.8%, acquiring an additional 5,442 shares to own a total of 14,111 shares valued at approximately $790,000.
• Insider trading activity included Director Harvey Gutman selling 1,400 shares and CEO Mark R. Defazio selling 20,517 shares, indicating a decrease in their respective holdings.
• Metropolitan Bank announced a $50 million share buyback program and a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, reflecting confidence in the company’s value.

XTX Topco Ltd lifted its stake in Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB - Free Report) by 62.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,111 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,442 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd owned about 0.13% of Metropolitan Bank worth $790,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 443 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of Metropolitan Bank during the fourth quarter valued at $12,109,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 1,726.5% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 149,280 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,718,000 after acquiring an additional 141,107 shares in the last quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 31.8% in the first quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors now owns 24,121 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,351,000 after acquiring an additional 5,825 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Metropolitan Bank in the first quarter worth about $986,000. 79.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Metropolitan Bank

In other Metropolitan Bank news, Director Harvey Gutman sold 1,400 shares of Metropolitan Bank stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.41, for a total value of $109,774.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,743 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,469,638.63. The trade was a 6.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark R. Defazio sold 20,517 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.43, for a total value of $1,342,427.31. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 94,185 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,162,524.55. This represents a 17.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 63,281 shares of company stock valued at $4,299,933 over the last three months. Company insiders own 6.09% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on MCB shares. Hovde Group raised their target price on shares of Metropolitan Bank from $75.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Metropolitan Bank from $81.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st.

Metropolitan Bank Trading Down 2.3%

MCB opened at $68.90 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market cap of $734.47 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.17 and a beta of 1.13. Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. has a 12 month low of $40.21 and a 12 month high of $80.20. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $69.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.94.

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $76.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.50 million. Metropolitan Bank had a return on equity of 10.67% and a net margin of 13.68%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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 authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, July 17th that allows the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Metropolitan Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, July 28th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 28th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Metropolitan Bank's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.72%.

Metropolitan Bank 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.

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