Share Repurchase Program Announced by Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) Board

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB - Get Free Report) announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, July 17th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Hovde Group increased their price target on shares of Metropolitan Bank from $75.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Metropolitan Bank from $81.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday.

Metropolitan Bank Stock Up 1.5%

MCB stock traded up $1.21 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $79.17. The company had a trading volume of 69,585 shares, compared to its average volume of 93,796. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $843.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.82 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.91. Metropolitan Bank has a fifty-two week low of $40.21 and a fifty-two week high of $80.20.

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 last year, the company earned $1.50 EPS. Analysts forecast that Metropolitan Bank will post 7.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 paid 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 dividend yield of 0.76%.

Insider Activity

In other Metropolitan Bank news, CEO Mark R. Defazio sold 20,517 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 94,185 shares in the company, valued at $6,162,524.55. This represents a 17.89% 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, SVP Norman Scott sold 3,293 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.57, for a total transaction of $199,457.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 12,546 shares in the company, valued at $759,911.22. This represents a 20.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 61,450 shares of company stock valued at $4,005,911. Insiders own 6.09% of the company's stock.

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.