MetLife, Inc. $MET Shares Sold by MetLife Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• MetLife Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in MetLife, Inc. by 2.4%, ending the quarter with 150,347 shares valued at $12,071,000.
• Analysts have mixed views on MetLife with Jefferies financial raising its target price to $103.00 while others like UBS Group lowered it to $91.00; the consensus rating remains a "Moderate Buy."
• MetLife's latest earnings report revealed a miss on earnings per share at $2.02, below the expected $2.32, alongside a 2.7% decline in quarterly revenue year-over-year.

MetLife Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 2.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 150,347 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 3,716 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC's holdings in MetLife were worth $12,071,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 4.8% in 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 during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 52.1% in 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 during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife in the first quarter valued at approximately $255,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of MetLife by 20.7% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Heartland Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of MetLife in the first quarter valued at approximately $516,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on MET. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on MetLife from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen cut MetLife from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $97.00 target price (up previously from $94.00) on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on MetLife from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $95.60.

MetLife Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE MET opened at $80.86 on Tuesday. MetLife, Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.21 and a twelve month high of $89.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.77 billion, a PE ratio of 13.71, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.85.

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

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

MetLife Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. MetLife's payout ratio is presently 38.47%.

About MetLife

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.

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