MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) Shares Sold by Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.

Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. lowered its position in MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 7.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 229,700 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 17,600 shares during the quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.'s holdings in MetLife were worth $18,443,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in MetLife in the fourth quarter worth approximately $730,716,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of MetLife by 33.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,663,239 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,019,427,000 after acquiring an additional 6,213,923 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 109.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,826,658 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $722,727,000 after purchasing an additional 4,606,748 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of MetLife by 43.7% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,663,177 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $463,701,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723,461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in MetLife by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,052,202 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $577,434,000 after purchasing an additional 958,458 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MET has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of MetLife from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of MetLife from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on MetLife from $88.00 to $86.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on MetLife from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded MetLife from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $94.17.

MetLife Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MET traded up $1.02 during trading on Monday, reaching $78.37. 3,220,108 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,389,797. MetLife, Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.21 and a 12-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 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $52.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.13, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.86. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $76.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.52.

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

MetLife announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 5.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

MetLife Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th were issued a dividend of $0.5675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. This is a boost from MetLife's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. MetLife's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.91%.

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.