MetLife, Inc. $MET Stock Position Trimmed by AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc

Key Points

• AEGON trimmed its MetLife stake by 6.0% in Q4, selling 53,462 shares and ending the quarter with 844,373 shares (~0.13% of the company) worth about $66.7 million.
• Institutional investors own 94.99% of MetLife, with Vanguard notably increasing its position by 12.1% to 72,555,335 shares (≈$5.73 billion), reflecting heavy institutional involvement and recent buying activity.
• Analysts hold an overall “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $93.38, despite some recent target cuts from firms like Mizuho and Bank of America.

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc cut its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 844,373 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 53,462 shares during the quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc owned about 0.13% of MetLife worth $66,663,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in MetLife by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,555,335 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,727,518,000 after purchasing an additional 7,805,814 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox lifted its position in MetLife by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 53,659,664 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,419,947,000 after purchasing an additional 477,783 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in MetLife by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,572,807 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,035,622,000 after purchasing an additional 180,683 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in MetLife by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 9,672,023 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $796,685,000 after purchasing an additional 527,388 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in MetLife by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,746,341 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $640,357,000 after purchasing an additional 352,395 shares during the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MET has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of MetLife from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a "moderate buy" rating and set a $87.00 target price on shares of MetLife in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of MetLife from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MetLife from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 11th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of MetLife from $103.00 to $99.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $93.38.

MetLife Stock Performance

MetLife stock opened at $77.66 on Friday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $73.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.64. MetLife, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.33 and a fifty-two week high of $83.85. The company has a market cap of $50.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.20.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.15. MetLife had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 21.81%. The firm had revenue of $52.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.08 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.85 EPS for the current year.

About MetLife

MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.

In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.

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