BDF Gestion Sells 5,711 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Key Points

• BDF Gestion reduced its stake in MetLife, Inc. by 9.8% in Q2, now holding 52,406 shares valued at approximately $4.21 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Ball & Co Wealth Management and North Capital Inc., have recently initiated new positions in MetLife, indicating ongoing interest from the investment community.
• MetLife reported Q2 earnings of $2.02 EPS, missing estimates, with revenue of $17.34 billion, which was also below analyst expectations.

BDF Gestion reduced its holdings in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 52,406 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 5,711 shares during the period. BDF Gestion's holdings in MetLife were worth $4,214,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MET. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in MetLife by 7.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,488,146 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,126,734,000 after purchasing an additional 1,824,907 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in MetLife by 0.4% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,862,835 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $711,597,000 after purchasing an additional 36,177 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 3.6% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,406,512 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $594,410,000 after acquiring an additional 259,993 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 0.8% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,109,423 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $570,816,000 after acquiring an additional 57,221 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of MetLife by 3.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,671,435 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $535,568,000 after acquiring an additional 236,698 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on MET. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of MetLife in a report on Friday, August 22nd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $94.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 18th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MetLife to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $94.64.

MetLife Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MET traded down $0.81 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $80.17. The stock had a trading volume of 1,676,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,417,955. The company's 50-day moving average price is $78.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.08. The company has a market capitalization of $53.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.32 by ($0.30). The firm had revenue of $17.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.58 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 19.88%. MetLife's quarterly revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were given a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. MetLife's payout ratio is presently 38.47%.

MetLife Company 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.