Credit Agricole S A Sells 132,613 Shares of MetLife, Inc. $MET

Key Points

• Credit Agricole S A significantly reduced its position in MetLife, Inc. by 46.9%, selling 132,613 shares and leaving them with 150,400 shares valued at approximately $12 million.
• Multiple brokerages have adjusted their target prices for MetLife, with JPMorgan raising it to $95.00 and Barclays to $94.00, indicating a generally positive outlook on the stock.
• MetLife plans to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.5675 per share on September 9, which reflects a 2.9% yield, and it also announced a $3 billion share buyback plan.

Credit Agricole S A decreased its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 46.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 150,400 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 132,613 shares during the period. Credit Agricole S A's holdings in MetLife were worth $12,076,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of MetLife by 4.8% during the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 422,684 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $33,937,000 after purchasing an additional 19,192 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its position in shares of MetLife by 52.1% during the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 9,355 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $751,000 after purchasing an additional 3,204 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of MetLife during the first quarter valued at about $255,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of MetLife by 20.7% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Heartland Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of MetLife during the first quarter valued at about $516,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MET. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and set a $97.00 price objective (up previously from $94.00) on shares of MetLife in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 11th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $95.60.

MetLife Trading Up 2.7%

NYSE MET traded up $2.1760 during trading on Friday, hitting $81.4160. The stock had a trading volume of 3,502,666 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,596,835. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.85. MetLife, Inc. has a one year low of $65.21 and a one year high of $89.05. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.49.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $18.58 billion. MetLife had a return on equity of 19.88% and a net margin of 5.83%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.28 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

MetLife declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, April 30th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

MetLife Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th will be paid a $0.5675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. MetLife's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.