Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Sells 35,294 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lessened its holdings in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 6.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 489,796 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 35,294 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC owned about 0.07% of MetLife worth $39,326,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in MetLife by 7.0% during the first quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,536 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 408,987 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $32,838,000 after acquiring an additional 5,323 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MetLife by 118.0% during the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 1,225 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $98,000 after acquiring an additional 663 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its position in MetLife by 52.1% in the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 9,355 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $751,000 after acquiring an additional 3,204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dohj LLC increased its stake in MetLife by 5.1% in the first quarter. Dohj LLC now owns 9,222 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $740,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company's stock.

MetLife Trading Up 1.3%

MET opened at $78.37 on Tuesday. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $65.21 and a one year high of $89.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.13, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.86.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $18.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.06 billion. MetLife had a net margin of 6.19% and a return on equity of 20.42%. MetLife's revenue was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.83 EPS. Analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

MetLife declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th were given a $0.5675 dividend. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.90%. This is a boost from MetLife's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 6th. MetLife's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.91%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MET. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on MetLife from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MetLife presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $94.17.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.