Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust Reduces Position in Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. $MCB

Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust lessened its holdings in Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB) by 21.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,069 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,301 shares during the quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust owned approximately 0.19% of Metropolitan Bank worth $1,921,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MCB. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in Metropolitan Bank by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Metropolitan Bank by 0.3% during the third quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 69,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,226,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Metropolitan Bank by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $350,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Metropolitan Bank in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Metropolitan Bank by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,502 shares of the company’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. 79.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MCB. UBS Group began coverage on Metropolitan Bank in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $97.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings raised Metropolitan Bank from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Metropolitan Bank from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Metropolitan Bank from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $103.00.

Insider Activity at Metropolitan Bank

In other Metropolitan Bank news, EVP Nick Rosenberg sold 1,807 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.42, for a total value of $181,458.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 22,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,229,524.84. This trade represents a 7.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Harvey Gutman sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.58, for a total transaction of $268,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,634,207.94. This trade represents a 14.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 19,897 shares of company stock worth $1,874,352. Corporate insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Metropolitan Bank Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE MCB opened at $97.17 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $93.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $88.33. Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. has a 52-week low of $64.66 and a 52-week high of $102.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.97 and a beta of 1.00.

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $2.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.73. The company had revenue of $88.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.33 million. Metropolitan Bank had a return on equity of 10.95% and a net margin of 15.89%.

Metropolitan Bank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 1st were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 1st. This is a positive change from Metropolitan Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Metropolitan Bank’s payout ratio is 12.32%.

About Metropolitan Bank

Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB), through its principal subsidiary Metropolitan Commercial Bank, operates as a New York–based regional financial institution providing a range of commercial and consumer banking services. The company offers deposit products including checking, savings and money market accounts, as well as business and personal certificates of deposit. On the lending side, Metropolitan Bank extends commercial real estate financing, equipment loans, working capital lines of credit and consumer installment loans tailored to the needs of small- and medium-sized enterprises and individual customers.

In addition to traditional deposit and lending services, Metropolitan Bank provides specialized treasury and cash-management solutions, foreign exchange services and letters of credit for both domestic businesses and multinational clients.