Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Sells 3,449 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lowered its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 2.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 136,855 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 3,449 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC's holdings in MetLife were worth $11,107,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MET. BSW Wealth Partners lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 10.0% in the first quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 2,895 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $232,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in MetLife by 20.7% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 60,785 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,735,000 after purchasing an additional 10,414 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in MetLife by 9.3% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 120,760 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $9,696,000 after buying an additional 10,249 shares in the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of MetLife by 24.7% during the first quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,205 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $257,000 after buying an additional 635 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PDS Planning Inc increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 13.2% during the first quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 2,784 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays lowered their price objective on MetLife from $95.00 to $88.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MetLife from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of MetLife in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $94.17.

MetLife Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:MET traded down $0.65 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $79.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,617,752 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,365,826. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $78.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.11. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.93, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $18.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.06 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 20.89% and a net margin of 6.08%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.83 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 30th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th were paid a $0.5675 dividend. This is an increase from MetLife's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 6th. MetLife's payout ratio is 36.91%.

MetLife Profile

MetLife, Inc, a financial services company, provides insurance, annuities, employee benefits, and asset management services worldwide. It operates through six segments: Retirement and Income Solutions; Group Benefits; Asia; Latin America; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and MetLife Holdings. The company offers life, dental, group short-and long-term disability, individual disability, pet insurance, accidental death and dismemberment, vision, and accident and health coverages, as well as prepaid legal plans; administrative services-only arrangements to employers; and general and separate account, and synthetic guaranteed interest contracts, as well as private floating rate funding agreements.