Increases to Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp.'s (NYSE:MCB) CEO Compensation Might Cool off for now

Performance at Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE:MCB) has been reasonably good and CEO Mark DeFazio has done a decent job of steering the company in the right direction. In light of this performance, CEO compensation will probably not be the main focus for shareholders as they go into the AGM on 26 May 2021. However, some shareholders may still be hesitant of being overly generous with CEO compensation.

See our latest analysis for Metropolitan Bank Holding

Comparing Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp.'s CEO Compensation With the industry

At the time of writing, our data shows that Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. has a market capitalization of US$526m, and reported total annual CEO compensation of US$2.0m for the year to December 2020. Notably, that's an increase of 20% over the year before. While we always look at total compensation first, our analysis shows that the salary component is less, at US$700k.

On examining similar-sized companies in the industry with market capitalizations between US$200m and US$800m, we discovered that the median CEO total compensation of that group was US$1.1m. This suggests that Mark DeFazio is paid more than the median for the industry. Moreover, Mark DeFazio also holds US$4.3m worth of Metropolitan Bank Holding stock directly under their own name, which reveals to us that they have a significant personal stake in the company.

Talking in terms of the industry, salary represented approximately 42% of total compensation out of all the companies we analyzed, while other remuneration made up 58% of the pie. It's interesting to note that Metropolitan Bank Holding allocates a smaller portion of compensation to salary in comparison to the broader industry. If non-salary compensation dominates total pay, it's an indicator that the executive's salary is tied to company performance.

A Look at Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp.'s Growth Numbers

Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp.'s earnings per share (EPS) grew 27% per year over the last three years. It achieved revenue growth of 32% over the last year.

Overall this is a positive result for shareholders, showing that the company has improved in recent years. Most shareholders would be pleased to see strong revenue growth combined with EPS growth. This combo suggests a fast growing business. Looking ahead, you might want to check this free visual report on analyst forecasts for the company's future earnings..

Has Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. Been A Good Investment?

With a total shareholder return of 25% over three years, Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. shareholders would, in general, be reasonably content. But they probably don't want to see the CEO paid more than is normal for companies around the same size.

To Conclude...

Seeing that the company has put up a decent performance, only a few shareholders, if any at all, might have questions about the CEO pay in the upcoming AGM. However, any decision to raise CEO pay might be met with some objections from the shareholders given that the CEO is already paid higher than the industry average.

While CEO pay is an important factor to be aware of, there are other areas that investors should be mindful of as well. We did our research and spotted 1 warning sign for Metropolitan Bank Holding that investors should look into moving forward.

Switching gears from Metropolitan Bank Holding, if you're hunting for a pristine balance sheet and premium returns, this free list of high return, low debt companies is a great place to look.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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