Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) Authorizes Stock Repurchase Plan

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB - Get Free Report) announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan 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 reacquire up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Metropolitan Bank Stock Up 4.2%

Metropolitan Bank stock traded up $3.11 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $76.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 145,841 shares, compared to its average volume of 93,471. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $67.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Metropolitan Bank has a 52-week low of $40.21 and a 52-week high of $77.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $819.25 million, a P/E ratio of 13.00 and a beta of 1.08.

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB - Get Free Report) last issued 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 10.53% and a net margin of 13.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.50 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Metropolitan Bank will post 7.31 EPS for the current year.

Metropolitan Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 28th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Hovde Group lifted their price objective on Metropolitan Bank from $75.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th.

Insider Activity

In other Metropolitan Bank news, SVP Norman Scott sold 3,293 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.57, for a total transaction of $199,457.01. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 12,546 shares of the company's stock, valued at $759,911.22. This trade represents a 20.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark R. Defazio sold 23,114 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.43, for a total value of $1,512,349.02. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 94,185 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,162,524.55. This trade represents a 19.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 61,450 shares of company stock valued at $4,005,911 in the last 90 days. 6.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

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