New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 7,326 Shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET)

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its position in shares of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report) by 1.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 750,060 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 7,326 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.11% of MetLife worth $60,222,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MET. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in MetLife during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Transce3nd LLC bought a new stake in MetLife during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. North Capital Inc. bought a new stake in MetLife during the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in MetLife during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in shares of MetLife in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MET shares. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of MetLife from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of MetLife from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. 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 research note on Monday, May 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of MetLife from $95.00 to $94.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of MetLife from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $95.58.

MetLife Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of MET opened at $77.69 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $52.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $78.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. MetLife, Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.21 and a 12 month high of $89.05.

MetLife (NYSE:MET - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 20.89% and a net margin of 6.08%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.83 EPS. Equities analysts predict that MetLife, Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 issued a dividend of $0.5675 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 5th. MetLife's payout ratio is 36.91%.

MetLife announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 30th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MET? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET - Free Report).

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.